Dracana and the Turtles
by Redbat132
Summary: This is my first fan fiction board thing in a long while. I'm a little excited plus nervous. It's been so long since I posted and written anything TMNT fan fiction related. After meeting some good fan fiction friends whom have written cool stories and build up my confidence, I decided to give it a try. Now, I'm doing this, and I hope all of you will like it.
1. Yojimbo (TMNT Fan Fic)

**Hi, everyone. My name is Redbat132. This is my first story attempt in this fan fiction website. Some of the stories I write plus share with you all will mostly include my character, Dana, or the others, like Macy and Tommy, or a little bit of both, as part of the Turtles' adventures.**

 **Now, before I begin, I would like to thank four fan fiction friends whom have helped me make this story happen: Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8. Especially HK, BabyPink, and DG. BabyPink and DG helped me work on a new bat Yokai legend that all of you will be reading about in this three-part story, along with some other things. And HK has helped by not only ideas, but also checker on storyline being accurate and all that jazz.**

 **And keep in mind that the stories/chapters I will be writing won't be every episode of TMNT. Besides, my characters don't meet them until around the beginning of season 2 (where the Turtles have Casey part of the team, I believe)**

 **I also have some drawings in the Wattpad app by phones called "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. Some images are based on/used for this story, as well. And possibly thinking about future drawings of characters you will know in the second and third parts. Right now, in case you do want to check out the drawings, look at chapters 11, 23, and 25.**

 **I don't own anything, except my characters. Here are some bios on what they look like plus stories:**

 **Name: Dana Vontorez**

 **Age: 15 (almost 16)**

 **Heritage: Her mom, Simone, is from Paris but her dad, Drake, is an American. Also has Jack Kurtzman as her uncle (calls him Uncle Kurtzman). He's not really her uncle by blood, but a close friend of her father and thinks of him as one.**

 **Personality: Caring, very curious, has a big/bright heart, self-confident, responsible, and adventurous.**

 **Looks: She has long, black straight hair, her skin nearly pale, and black eyes.**

 **Height: 5'0 feet tall**

 **Appearance at day: She wears a pink ribbon like a headband tied around her head, but revealed a few bangs in front of her face, a short sleeveless pale rose shirt and dark mauve skirt tied with a metal belt, and silver boots. As accessories, she wears a yellow bracelet on her left wrist and silver necklace with a red gem in the center.**

 **Appearance at night when being with the Turtles (her old outfit until around season 4): She wears a red ribbon like a headband tied around her head. She wears a white sleeveless shirt that had some red on the shirt collar, a short sleeveless blue jean jacket with yellow buttons on both sides, and long purple skirt tied to a brown belt around her waist where she wore a whip, and dark purple colored granny boots. A pair of purple bat wings stick out from her back occasional. Her accessories were a black stripe like necklace around her neck, and two long grey glovelettes on both arms with one yellow bracelet on both wrists. She also wears a black bat-like mask that give her appearance a mysterious vibe.** **Mikey, along with a little help from Tommy as his nicknaming student, was the one who came up with Dana's heroine name: Dracana. (Note: This is her old outfit until around season 4. Her new outfit is hard to describe, at the moment. But it's kind of inspired by Lolirock and you can find it in the Wattpad app by phones called "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. This new outfit is in chapter 11. Can't miss it)**

 **Powers: Can run very fast, fly, retractable bat wings and fangs, has the ability to hear people far away, create high pitch sonic sounds (also known as echolocation), has an increase of strength, and fast healer.**

 **Hobbies: Drawing (her drawings are very realistic. Looks like photos from a camera), singing, solving a good mystery, and painting**

 **Skills: more on Tae-Kwon-Do, but sometimes learns ninjutsu. Knows how to use whips and katanas**

 **Crush: Leonardo**

 **Backstory: When Dana was eight years old, her family was attacked by the Kraang. They wanted to take Dana and her brother Tommy (whom was only a few months old) away and use them as test subjects, but her parents refused. So, the Kraang took Dana's Parents, instead, and she never saw them again. The last thing her parents told Dana before they were gone was "Be a good big sister to your brother, and don't lose hope on us." She ran away with her brother and promised to protect him, no matter what. After Dana ran away with her little brother when she was still 8 years old, she met Macy (a girl she just became friends with). Dana told her that she lost her parents. Feeling bad, Macy decided to bring her along as part of a new family.**

 **As 8 years past, Dana became pretty good friends with Macy who always had her back and takes good care of Tommy. She lives with her friend Macy at an apartment around New York just 10 minutes away from Mr. Murakami's restaurant.**

 **Dana got mutated on the day of her parents' anniversary of being captured. She saw and followed a Kraang droid, during a small evening walk, in hopes of looking for her parents that we're taken from her. When Dana ended up going inside an abandon building, she found out what/who the Kraang really are. To make things worse, a bat came flying out of nowhere and smacked Dana right in the face. This caused her to crashed into a bunch of crates. Also, cut her left arm on a mutagen container s and a drop of ooze spills inside her huge cut wound, not touching her skin. The ooze went inside her system and gave her the bat features making her half bat mutant instead of a full mutant. That's how she became a minor mutant. Long story short, she gets rescued by the turtles, be friends them, and ends up going on adventures with them. They even help Dana find her parents, but not until around season 4, after saving the earth from the Triceraton Blackhole situation.**

 **More info on Dana as Dracana: She has not one but three different kinds of whips (All made by Donatello). She has an original whip (has a red strap around it) that is located on her belt, a long lasso whip (has a green strap around it) that is located inside her right boot, and a stun whip (has a blue strap around it) that is located inside her left boot. Due to its name, the long lasso is not only long but very strong enough to slice/cut through metal and glass. The stun whip can stun a person when it whips someone from a distance that can last up to an hour or 2. If Dana wants to stop the stunning effects quicker, all she has to do is use the stun whip again on the person on the same spot where the victim was hit. Luckily, the stun whip leaves a glowing mark on where Dracana struck her opponent.**

 **Name: Macy Monroe**

 **Species: human**

 **Weapons: Shurikens (throwing stars), Sais, Katanas, and Nunchucks**

 **Gender: female**

 **Occupation: heroine/street fighter**

 **Age: 15**

 **Personality: Tough, diligent, vigilant, quick tempered (but sometimes controls/calms herself), rebellious, and over protective (to Dana sometimes)**

 **What she looks like: has brown eyes, short-haired brunette, with a long bang almost covering her left eye, and healthy tan skin tone**

 **At Day: a black tank top shirt with a long sleeve blue jean jacket worn underneath and dark blue jeans tied with a brown belt, and black sneakers that have white skulls on both sides. She even wore yellow sphered earrings.**

 **At Night: silver tank top shirt with a long sleeve black leather jacket to wear with a few shurikens up on her sleeves along with a katana sword on her back, dark black jeans tied with a brown belt with a bat symbol on the center, along with twin sais on her hips, and a nunchuck strapped on to her left ankle barely showing. She has the same black sneakers that have white skulls on both sides, wears, and a black mask. Silver shuriken like earrings and black leather fingerless biker gloves are her accessories. Goes by the name Black Rebel (Mikey's heroine nickname)**

 **Skills: more on Tae-Kwon-Do, but learns some Ninjitsu, great at gymnastics, and never misses a shot with shurikens.**

 **Her story: 8 years back, Macy was seeing her Grandfather. When she was about to go back home, she met Dana and her little brother (as a baby a few months old). Dana told her she lost her parents so Macy decided to bring her long. 8 years past, she became more of a rebel but still has Dana's back (Especially if Dana is a minor mutant bat.) She lives at an apartment around New York just 10 minutes away from Mr. Murakami's restaurant.**

 **Any other info: She likes to practice on her guitar, play a little violin when she's in a good mood, do a few tricks on her skateboard (it's red with orange flame prints underneath and has different stickers full of white skulls and turtles, like her guitar), and has a pet turtle named Gliss (it's a girl and has a mini black bow on her head) since she was 7 years old. Plus, the violin was the very first instrument Macy plays before the guitar. She's a sucker for turtles, and would never harm one.**

 **Name: Tommy Vontorez (Dana's little brother)**

 **Species: human**

 **Specialty: He may not have power's, but he knows Tae-Kwan-Do and some Ninjitsu**

 **Favorite weapon: all of them (You name it: katanas, sais, nunchucks, shurikens, bo-staffs, etc.), but he uses nunchucks for combat**

 **Gender: male**

 **Personality: Hyper, adventurous, fun, fearless, very curious, and good hearted (like his sister)**

 **Age: 8**

 **What he looks like: He has spiky black hair, black eyes, almost pale looking skin, wears a midnight colored shirt that shows a wolf howling under a full moon, blue jeans, and brown sneakers.**

 **Favorite Turtle/Mutant: He likes all of them. But he seems to hang out with Mikey a lot.**

 **So, yeah, that's them. Of course, the only person you're going to be reading about with the Turtles is Dana. But I thought it would be important that I tell you the others so you could get a better understanding on how they're all connected.**

 **I would also like to point out that how Dana fits into this story is kind of like a mystery. So, see if you can figure it out before the last part.**

 **Okay, let's get to the story already. Hope you guys enjoy.**

* * *

 **Tales of the TMNT: Yojimbo (Translation: Bodyguard)**

Somewhere across the ten dimensions, there was a world where anthropomorphic animals were the dominant species that takes place in 16th century Feudal Japan. On a supposedly late afternoon, a white, gray-haired ronin rabbit named Miyamoto Usagi was traveling by foot in a foggy forest.

Usagi had an old scar on the left above his eye. His ears were tied with blue material in the shape of the samurai kits. He wore a blue kimono top, and had his embroidered cloak of his old clan on his chest. The same sign was also carved from wood and attached to his belt, where his two katana swords were located as well. His pants navy blue, and he also wore white socks with waraji straw sandals and finger-delimited. At the moment, he had a kasa hat on.

As he continued walking, Usagi noticed smoke from above, right in front of his path. He hurried towards the source and discovered a village that was in ruins. It became clear that a serious battle took place. There were scratch marks plus an arrow on one of the pillared stones. Usagi kept going, checking to see if there were any survivors in need of help.

Suddenly, a small pair of white eyes were watching plus following the Ronin Rabbit, in one of the village homes. Usagi stopped, sensing that someone or something was observing him.

"I know you're here…Come out!" Usagi said the so-called spy, ready to use his katana blade for whatever battle may come.

The infiltrator revealed itself as a small, harmless green dinosaur. The small creature just scurried passed Usagi, while holding fresh food to eat hanging on his mouth. After it left, Usagi then heard a creaking sound.

"Huh?" he turned his head to the source and became surprised to see a familiar face. "Akemi!"

Akemi was an anthropomorphic cat female and friend of Miyamoto Usagi. She had long black straight hair that was loose with two different ponytails: a small high one and a low strand tied together by a red bow. Her appearance was slightly white fur, green eyes, and some black lines around her eyes and on her cheeks. She also wore a golden-like crown on her forehead that had red tassels on the sides, white kimono dress that was covered in wooden armor, a pair of small circular gauntlets located on both of her paws, and wore white socks with waraji straw sandals. As a weapon-plus shown in sight and used to walk like a cane-Akemi had a naginata.

"I'm glad you've come," she told him. Akemi walked closer until Usagi, whom took off his strawed hat, went to her aid.

"What happened here?" Usagi questioned, concerned about his friend.

"A band of samurai," Akemi explained. "They must have been Ronin. They were led by a mercenary called Sumo Kuma."

"I have never heard of him," muttered the Ronin Rabbit, wondering about whom this new enemy was.

"All my samurai have been wiped out, and many villagers, too. I barely escaped," she continued talking while moving, "They ransacked the village, looking for the holy child, but could not find him. Come, Kintaro is this way. I hid him well."

Akemi lead Usagi to a small sanctuary. Inside, there was a trapdoor located on the floor. As she opened it, there revealed a small pugged boy holding an axe that was bigger than him. He looked up to see Akemi and Usagi with his puppy dog eyes. His name was Kintaro.

Kintaro was a white pug with a distinctive black-and-white patch on both his mouth and ears. His hair was black, reached his shoulders, and one band was tied with a red rubber band in a ponytail at the top. His puppy dog eyes were brown. He was dressed in red clothes with a gold Japanese sign in the middle, sandals on his feet and golden cuffed bracelets on his wrists. On his back, he had a goldfinch.

"It's about time! I was in there for days! How dare you treat me so disrespectfully!" Kintaro rebuked, much to the Ronin Rabbit's surprise.

"This is the holy child?" he asked Akemi incredulity, as Kintaro continued to tirade.

"Please humor him. Kintaro has been pampered his entire life because he is the golden boy, destined to possess superhuman abilities. Just…not yet," she and Usagi both lifted Kintaro up from his hiding spot. "My apologizes, Kintaro-sama. This is Miyamoto Usagi. He is a fierce swordsman, and with his help, I will deliver you to the temple palace," Akemi assured Kintaro.

"Bah! This sorry-looking long-eared? He looks like he couldn't deliver sushi to a banquet," scoffed the Holy Child. He carried his axe and was out the door; only to get pulled back by Akemi and yelped in the process.

Akemi poked her head to make sure the cost was clear, before moving ahead. Once it was safe, she walked out with Usagi and Kintaro following her from behind.

"We must get started immediately. The hour has already grown late," Akemi began, until she felt a pain in her leg and collapsed. "Uh!"

"Akemi!" Usagi immediately went towards his dear companion. He saw her grasp on her leg; realizing that she was seriously wounded. "You're injured."

"But I am…not hurt badly," she told him while standing up and try to walk again, "I must continue with you to escort the boy-Ugh!" Akemi trembled, grasping on her bruised leg in discomfort. Even Kintaro seemed worried for her.

"No. You are barely able to stand, much less travel over mountains," Usagi reasoned.

Although Akemi really wanted to take Kintaro to the temple unharmed, she knew that her ronin friend was correct. "You are right," she turned head towards the holy child, whom just walked over to the front, "Kintaro, you must go with Usagi-san. Do what he says."

This displeased him so much that Kintaro throw his axe down, crossing his arms in a stubborn way. "I am not listening to this stupid Ronin. He was late for the battle, and I don't like his face," he obdurately said.

"Taro-kun!" scolded Akemi, which got Kintaro's attention, "Do what he says! He will protect you."

Kintaro looked away, trying to find a way to answer. As much as he disliked this plan, Kintaro didn't seem to have any other option.

"Well…I'll…alright!" he said, in defeat, "But I will hold onto my Axe of Power. Just remember your place, Ronin, and treat me with the respect I deserve," Kintaro said to Usagi, while picking up his axe. As he swung it around until it was over his head, however, the axe over balanced him and caused Kintaro to fall backwards.

And so, with his mission set, Usagi must deliver Kintaro to the temple and protective from any harm. Before leaving, he looked back at Akemi and put his kasa hat back on.

"Good luck, Usagi-san," she said as she watched her ronin friend leave with Kintaro close behind.

* * *

While the two were traveling through the foggy forest, miles away from where they started, Kintaro was moving behind Usagi and began complaining.

"You don't even have a horse? What kind of Ronin are you!? Can you carry me, you smelly rabbit?" he then caught up to the ronin and stopped in front of him, "Hello? Can you hear me with those giant ears!?" Kintaro nearly spoke louder on that last question, as if Usagi had a hearing problem.

"Be silent, Kintaro-sama. We must not be noticed on the road," Usagi said, placing a bone in Kintaro's mouth and patted him on the head, before continuing the journey. Much to the holy child's surprise. Kintaro spitted out what was placed in his mouth and became enraged.

"What!? You dare insult the golden boy by offering a bone!?" he questioned, still staying close to the Ronin Rabbit.

Usagi pulled down his kasa, embarrassed by Kintaro's childish babbling. He knew that this was going to be a long journey. One that will require and test his patience.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched…

* * *

Somewhere in a high mountain top, a dark enemy was spying on them from a stoned-like bowl full of water. His name was Jei.

Jei was a tall anthropomorphic wolf with grey skin, long black hair, and completely whited out eyes. He wore a black kimono. His weapon was a special black-bladed yari that had a black lightning bolt on the speared blade.

He and Usagi once met and fought, not too long ago. Usagi was sent to put an end on Jei for destroying an entire family. Jei claimed that the family was diseased with evil and that the gods revealed their nature to him. As they battled during a stormy evening, Jei vowed that he will cleanse the world of its evil to Usagi. Before he could strike a blow on his ronin enemy, Jei was strucked by lightning, and vanished. The only thing Usagi found left from this mysterious villain was his spear, still smoking from the lightning hit. Since then, Jei was never heard from again…until now.

"So, Ronin, the gods have brought you to me again. No one has escaped my blade before. I will bring great warriors to destroy you, Miyamoto Usagi," Jei reached into his kimono and brought out five talismans: four turtles and a bat, "Powerful pawns to strike when the time is right."

As he cited an incantation in Japanese, the objects in his right hand began to magically float into the air and glow. The turtle figures each glowed a different color: orange, purple, red, and blue. The bat object was glowing dark magenta. In just a flash of lightning, the five talismans turned into the Turtles and Dracana!

The five heroes fell on the ground from the sky. Although she had bat wings, Dracana did not react quick enough to make a soft landing like the others and ended up hitting her head hard enough to get knocked out. As for the others, they got up and checked their surroundings; not noticing nor realizing that the bat heroine was transported, too.

"Where…where the heck are we?" Asked Leo, the Leader in Blue, while everyone, except one, got back on their feet from the crash.

"Donnie, have you been messing with some portal experiment again!?" Raph, being the Hothead of the team, asked.

"Why do you always assume it's me!?" argued Donnie, the Smart One.

Mikey, whom was the Wild One, just enjoyed eating a slice of pizza that he brought with him.

From a high distance, Jei became slightly surprised at his new pawns. "These are the great warriors I asked for?" questioned Jei. He lightly chuckled, evilly, and began to walk like an injured old man.

Back down in the hill, while Raph and Donnie were going at each other's throats again, the Turtles soon took notice of Jei, whom was pretending to be an innocent victim.

"Ahh, Turtle Ninja, Mythic Kappa of Legend?" Jei walked over to them and reached his hand forward, "I need your help. I was attacked by a vicious rabbit Ronin," he continued talking and, then, placed his hand on Mikey's shoulder; which creeped him out a little. "Save me, Save me from the wrath of this madman, please!"

When Jei touched him, and looked into his eyes, Mikey's pupils began to turn white. He was now under Jei's control. "We can take care of this evil jerk face for you. No worries, brah." Mikey said, completely emotionless.

One by one, Jei placed his hand on the Turtles until they became just like Mikey.

"He is pure evil. I can sense it inside of him, corrupting him like a plague,"

Leo tried to resist, but he soon fell deeply into the dark spell. "Evil. Yes, we can help you, old man. No problem," he said to Jei.

"You can count on us," Donnie said.

Soon, after taking control of the Turtles, Dana finally came around and slowly got up half way. The heroine bat placed her hand on the back of her head and rubbed it.

"Ugh, my head really hurts," she groaned, before noticing Jei with the Turtles. "Huh? Is that…the Turtles?" Her eyes widened, slightly gasping quietly to herself; for she realized that she and her friends were in danger. Jei eventually saw Dana, whom was now conscious.

"Ahh, Komori-Onna. Thank goodness you are awake," Jei told her, still playing as a guiltless elderly man while walking towards her. Dana, whom was not fooled, immediately brought out her whip, flipped a few feet back and did a battle stance.

"Back off, Wolf Creep! What did you do to my friends?!" she questioned in a demanding tone, keeping her stern gaze at him.

"Please, I mean no harm. In fact, I am only here to ask for help,"

Suddenly, Dana was starting to feel lightheaded. And it wasn't from the crash she just had. For some weird reason, she was compelled to do what the strange wolf said. Dana placed a hand on her forehead, trying to resist whatever the dark wolf was doing to her. While she was struggling, Jei became close enough to place his spear-freed hand under Dana's chin and gently lifted her head until her eyes met his.

"Help me, Akuto-Komori. I will be more than grateful of your assistance,"

In less than a second, Dana's eyes turned completely white, just like the Turtles. "Of course. I will do what you ask. How may I serve you, Master?" she asked, impassively.

Jei let out a small chuckle, before removing his hand from Dana's face. "Excellent. I want you and your Turtle allies to hunt down and destroy the long-eared Ronin who travels with a child. But do not harm the boy," he walked in front of the Turtles with Dana following him until she was next to Leo. Jei then turned around and pointed with his spear while commanding them.

"Go! Do my bidding, Turtle and Bat Warriors. Destroy the one called… Miyamoto Usagi."

* * *

Hours later, it became night. Usagi and Kintaro have started a campfire in a small cave. Both warmed their hands by the fires. While Usagi adjusted the firewood, using a stick, Kintaro began to protest once more.

"You're useless and slow and probably a terrible cook, too," he began to throw a rock at Usagi, twice, but the ronin was able to dodge both of them with ease, "It's already night, and the camp should have been set up hours ago!"

"We only just stopped. You must be patient, Kintaro," Usagi spoke. "Unless you would like to help?"

Kintaro stood up and said, "Do you dare suggest I dirty my hands with peasant work? Fool!" He threw another rock, only this time, Usagi hit it back with his stick, instead of dodging.

The Ronin Rabbit left the campsite to collect more. After gathering some logs, he decided to collect some water in a nearby river. Although Kintaro was a spoiled brat that could get into anyone's nerves, Usagi had to keep a cool head and continue his job.

"He is still a child," Usagi reminded himself out loud. "I must remain patient."

Suddenly, four certain ninja turtle warriors rose out from the river. This caused Usagi to this regard the firewood he was carrying and placed his hand on one of his blades.

"What is this?"

The four turtles drew out their weapons. Each of them ran and made a move with Usagi blocking them with his katana blade. The Ronin Rabbit stayed firm on his ground, doing whatever it took to protect the holy child; whom was behind Usagi and hiding.

"We must hide! They are kappa!" Kintaro cried in fear.

"But like no kappa I have ever seen," clarified Usagi.

The Turtles attacked once more, using shurikens. The Ronin deflected them, along with defending himself from Raph's sai attack. He managed to disarmed Donnie from his bo-staff and threw him into a tree. Kintaro continued hiding by moving behind a different tree. Usagi managed to take down Raph and flipped him over his shoulder, causing him to knock into Mikey and land into the water at once.

Little did the holy child and Ronin knew, a bat-like female was in one of the trees, waiting for the right moment to strike. When she saw three of the four turtles down and the Ronin with his back turned, the bat heroine decided to take it as her window of opportunity. Yanking out her whip, without hesitation, Dana used it to try and hit him. Unfortunately, for her, Usagi sensed it, got the whip around his katana, and heaved back; resulting Dana to get pulled out of her hiding place and land on the ground with ease with the help of her bat wings.

As Usagi took a good look at her, his eyes grew wide in shock. It was as if he had sawn a ghost. Even Kintaro became surprised by Dana's appearance, in a terrified way.

"A komori-onna? This cannot be!"

Realizing that her opponent had his guard down, not to mention still had her whip attached to it, she tugged Usagi's sword out of his hands and steered it towards the heart of a faraway tree trunk. Then, Leo tried to attack Usagi, believing he was now defenseless. Turns out, Usagi still had another katana with him and clashed it into Leo's double blades. The two of them moved just a few feet away from each other. Usagi was now against Leo and Dana in this heated battle.

"You are not unskilled, demons! A willow branch is thirsty," Usagi told his enemies, before lunging forward to end up clashing his sword into Leo. "And I will quench its thirst on both your bloods."

The three opponents continued fighting, all of them individually skilled. As he fought them, Usagi studied his two opponents. He noticed that they were inseparable on their moves. When Leo would strike high, Dana would assault low. But that didn't catch him off-guard. The Ronin Rabbit remained strong in combat.

Their fight soon moved near the water. Usagi blocked Leo's twin katanas, while dodging Dana's whip attacks. All three warriors kept attacking and defending themselves.

Just then, Kintaro started running into the battle with his axe.

"I will save you, stupid rabbit," he told him before tripping on a rock and accidently threw his axe forward. The axe flew passed the trio, bounced off a tree, almost whacked Dana but she moved out of the way, and smacked Leo right in the head.

Leo's eyes went back to normal, along with him falling face first on the water.

"Ow! What the? My head," Leo said, rubbing his head and slowly tried to recover, "Oh! What happened?"

Kintaro heard the Leader in Blue, while getting his axe back. He looked at the confused kappa and then the komori-onna, whom was still fighting Usagi. As Kintaro studied her very carefully, he realized what was really going on.

The Ronin Rabbit managed to duck from Dana's side thrust kick, flip over her, and slashed her left arm that leaved a nasty scar. Much to his surprise, the scar immediately faded away; as if he did no damage to her. The two of them, now a few feet away once more, circled around each other, waiting who will make the next move.

"I do not know the reason why you destroyed your kind, Akuto-Komori... but, for the honor of this tribe and for the sake of this world's villagers, I will make sure you will no longer hurt anyone!" Usagi was ready to finish her and the Turtles off until a certain golden boy pug interfered by getting between him and Dana.

"Stop! Komori-Onna, I sense you and the Kappa are under an evil enchantment. You must break free!"

Usagi wasn't sure whether to believe Kintaro or not. He slightly feared that the bat-girl and turtles could be dangerous. But then, he noticed something in the female warrior's eyes.

Dana's mindless anger expression started to soften. It was Kintaro's words that helped the heroine bat remember something-or rather, someone-important.

"Tommy…," she muttered under her breathe, before dropping her knees to the ground, looking down and releasing her weapon. Dana slowly lifted her head, slightly groaning, to reveal her normal midnight black eyes. "Where am I? What just happened?" she asked, dizzily.

"Guys, the little kid's right," Leo called out to his brothers as they walk over.

"We're not bad guys, little pug kid. Ronin rabbit here is," Mikey said while pointing at Usagi.

"Usagi is my loyal bodyguard," simplified Kintaro, "Even if he is a useless peasant."

"Oh, man, what a headache," moaned Raph, whom was still floating in the river, "Skull's aching."

"Yeah, this is like a double chocolate Mikey pizza hangover," Donnie said.

When Leo saw Dana, he immediately went to her aid and slowly helped her up. He couldn't believe that the Bat Detective was stuck in this world, as well.

"Dana! Are you all right?" he asked, worried about the heroine bat.

"My brain feels like it's been banged by a drum multiple times and my stomach going through a rollercoaster ride, but, otherwise, I'm okay," she answered, trying to keep herself from barfing.

"I sense they are not evil," Kintaro told Usagi.

"Then what are these strange Yokai?" Questioned Usagi, facing the Turtles. He even gave a small glare at Dana, which made her feel a little uncomfortable and Leo slightly offended by his comment.

"Strange? Look who's talking, a giant samurai rabbit," he pointed his sword towards the Ronin Rabbit. Dana placed a hand on his chest, as if saying 'calm down'. She didn't like seeing the turtle she admired get angry over something small and unpractical.

"All I remember is that blind wolf guy telling us to find this long-eared samurai," said Mikey, whom was laying his head on a rock.

"What blind wolf guy?" questioned Usagi.

"He summoned us here, somehow, to your dimension," started Donnie.

"He carried a black spear, like nothing I've ever seen before," Leo continued, after sheathed his katana blades.

"I was there, too. His spear had this black lightning bolt symbol on the blade part," exclaimed Dana. She turned her head towards Leo and Donnie. "After I recovered from that unexpected fall, I saw you and the others in some hypnotic trance. I knew, then, that whoever was with you, was responsible and up to no good."

"Black spear? That old, blind wolf is not blind, but possessed by evil," explained the Ronin Rabbit, whom also sheathed his sword.

 _That much I had figured. The real question should be_ _ **why**_ _summon us_ , thought Dana. _It doesn't add up. At least…not yet._

"His name is Jei. He had you under a spell. Where are you from?"

Before any of the Turtles or Dana could answer, Kintaro interrupted them.

"Who cares? Look how ugly they are," insulted the little boy. He pointed at Dana and said, "Especially the weird Komori-Onna. She looks different from her ancient race," Kintaro's words made Mikey growl, Leo grit his teeth, and Dana slightly confused. "And my sensitive nose can't handle how bad they smell."

"Be silent, child!" Scolded Usagi, whom was behind Kintaro and caused him to jump plus fall in the river. He then looked up to the five strangers and said, before gesturing towards where his camp was located, "…Excuse the boy, Kappa and Komori-Onna Warriors. Please, share our campfire."

* * *

Few minutes had past. The Turtles and Dana sat down, sharing the campfire of Usagi and Kintaro. The young bat heroine sat between Leo and Usagi. She stayed close next to the blue masked turtle and warmed her hands near the fire. While admiring the dancing flames, Dana's thoughts started flowing with questions: Who is Usagi? Why summon her to a world where only anthropomorphic animals rule? How will she and the Turtles get back home? And what did Kintaro meant when he said Dana looked different from her _'ancient race'_?

Her own thoughts became interrupted when she heard Leo talking.

"Thanks, Usagi. So, what's your story?"

This brought the young bat detective's attention. One of her questions she was thinking of were about to be answered.

"I was Lord Mifune's personal bodyguard in the battle against Lord Hikiji," Usagi told, "Our forces might have been victorious, had not a trusted general turned against our lord. It was my duty to protect his flank. I failed. I became a Ronin, roaming the land," he paused to feel the scar on his forehead.

Dana placed a hand on her mouth, too speechless after hearing Usagi's tragic story. He did his best to protect his Lord, but was unsuccessful in the end. And there was nothing Usagi could have done. She actually felt bad for him.

"Now, I am charged with taking this boy to the temple palace of his order. But where do you come from, strange warriors?"

"My brothers, friend, and I are from far away," explained Leo, "It's…it's kind of hard to explain,"

Dana could only nod her head in agreement.

"Have we traveled back in time again?" asked Raph.

"I don't think so. We must have been transported to a different dimension. One inhabited by anthropomorphic animals instead of humans," explained Donnie.

"Sounds like my kind of place!" exclaimed Mikey, whom was holding a stick with his slice of pizza over the fire and bit into it.

"I wouldn't stay comfy here for long. We have a home to protect. Not to mention a family," Dana reminded, rubbing her arms anxiously. She couldn't bear the thought of never seeing the people she cared for ever again. Seeing the distress in her face, Leo gave Dana a small side hug to cheer her up. It, sort of, did worked. Just a little bit.

"We know, Dana," Leo told her, "The question is, how?"

Usagi took a moment to think of an answer. "Hmmm…The monks of Kintaro's order may know a way. They are powerful mystics," he explained.

This brought a little spark of hope into the bat detective. "That might work," she said to Usagi.

"Ha! These turtles, along with that bat-winged girl, are doomed," commented Kintaro.

"Whatever, Pugtaro," retorted Mikey. This made the other turtles smirk to one another while Kintaro growled. "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna call you. It's a way better name than Kintaro."

In anger, Kintaro stood up, pointed at Mikey, and said to him, "What would a simple reptile know? You don't even have ears or a nose."

Mikey covered his face, grunting. Eventually, the two of them began flinging their arms at each other. The sight of this made Dana gently facepalm and shook her head, comprehending that she was going to have to deal with them until the Turtles and herself reach the temple.

 _This is going to be a_ _ **very**_ _long trip to get back home,_ she presumed to herself, in thought.

While they continued their silly little fight, Dana lightly turned her gaze towards Usagi, whom was kind of staring at her in a curious way. He looked away when she realized what he was doing. The bat detective couldn't help but think there was something Kintaro and Usagi were not telling her and the Turtles. She only wished what it was.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was already walking through the forest. They had to continue the journey, in order to deliver Kintaro to his destination and find the key to getting Usagi's new allies back to their dimension. Usagi was ahead of the group, with Kintaro close behind. The Turtles and Dana kept staying by their side from a small distance.

Although not interested in staying forever, the bat detective was fascinated by this world's beauty. Including the small dino-lizard creatures that kept roaming around the forest. Dana knew that she and the Turtles will get back home. The least she could do, in the meantime, was keep herself busy.

"So, Usagi, how do you know Jei?" she asked the ronin samurai.

"Our paths crossed when I was sent to stop someone that was going around annihilating innocent lives," Usagi began while slightly facing Dana and walking, "I tracked Jei down to bring him to justice, one night, only to find out that he murdered a family. I showed no mercy against him. When I asked whom he was, he told me his name and claimed that he was the Blade of the Gods, to cleanse the world of its evil. Jei would have finished me off, if it wasn't for a storm that struck a lightning bolt at him. When I awoke, the next morning, all that was found was his weapon. It was smoking for who knows how long. That was the last time I ever saw him,"

Dana rubbed her chin, intrigued by Usagi's story. The way he was described, Jei sounded like a mysterious and powerful enemy. Not to mention a mad man. She wondered what a crazy wolf like Jei would want to go through all this trouble to summon her friends, along with herself, from another world to do his dirty work. There was definitely something else to Jei's plans. If only she and her friends knew.

"Ugh, I can't believe we're stuck here!" grumbled Raph, "Donnie, can't you invent something to send us back home?"

"Well, I could build a portal to get back to our home dimension," suggested Donnie, "But manufacturing all the necessary wires and components in this feudal age would only take approximately…fifty-seven years."

"Sweet! Good thing turtles have long lives," exclaimed Mikey, as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, that's not an option. Some of us aren't even turtles," pointed out Dana, whom could hear the whole conversation from behind.

"Oh, yeah, forgot you'll be old and wrinkly by then," Mikey chuckled nervously on overlooking that plan. "Sorry, Dana."

The young bat only sighed before answering, "None taken," she decided to ignore that problem by asking a few more questions to the Ronin Rabbit. "Usagi, would it be too much trouble to ask you something?"

"Of course not," he answered, firmly. "Please, what is it?"

"Well, before I was under Jei's influence, he called me an Akuto-Komori. I know the word 'komori' is Japanese for 'bat', but I'm unfamiliar with the first word. What does the word 'akuto' mean?"

Usagi looked down, trying to think how he could gently explain it to the bat heroine. After a few seconds of thinking, Usagi answered, "…Rogue. It means 'rogue', Dana-chan."

This caused Dana to raise an eye brow at this. "Rogue Bat? Why would he call me that?"

Before he could answer, Usagi stopped and lifted his hand before saying, "Listen."

The Turtles could only hear a simple breeze. Dana, on the other hand, closed her eyes and concentrated deeply to hear what Usagi was hearing. As part bat, she required echolocation; which allowed Dana to know where her friends and or enemies are, if she couldn't see them with her eyes.

"What is it? I don't hear anything," Leo replied, still obscured.

"Horses are approaching from the east," Usagi explained while pointing at the direction of the source.

"He's right. I hear them, too, and heading our direction, fast," exclaimed Dana, whom now had her eyes opened.

Everyone looked at each other, nodding on what they were thinking. They hid up in the trees before getting caught. Dana grabbed Kintaro, stretched out her wings, and flew towards the same tree her turtle and rabbit friends were.

Seconds later, a band of ronins were on horses, galloping passed where the team was hidden.

"Kintaro, are these the samurai who attacked the village?" Usagi asked Kintaro, in a whispering tone.

The young boy looked at them, carefully, and whispered back, "They are. That's Sumo Kuma."

Sumo Kuma appeared as an anthropomorphic brown bear. He had light-golden brown colored eyes, and a small bun of hair on top of his head. For attire, he wore a sumo robe with orange, blue, black, and gold colors. There were golden flowers on the shoulder parts of it, red-orange hexagon patterns on the sides plus bandana around his head, blue flowers on the belt, and blue triangle patterns with the background black as the sleeves. He also carried a kanabo on his back, as his weapon.

"We need to find out what his plan is for the boy," Usagi told the Turtles and Dana, "But how can we get close enough to hear them?"

"We're ninja. We're experts at getting close to people," Leo whispered, causing Usagi to give a little smile.

Dana couldn't help but smile at this. She knew the Turtles long enough that what Leo said was true. They even taught her about the secrets and rules of being a true ninja…Leo, mostly. Not that she minded.

The Turtle team was able to use their stealth skills to knock out five male warriors. They were almost caught by a female bodyguard, if Dana hadn't knocked her out with a side thrust kick from below, causing the bodyguard to hit a tree and hit her head. Soon after, they tied up the knocked-out warriors with rope, not after disrobing them of their armor.

"Good thing Sumo Kuma had a girl samurai around," Dana spoke, while putting on the female guard's clothing.

"Quick, before they realize they're missing a few warriors," Leo whispered to the others.

While they put on their armor, the Turtles, Usagi, and Kintaro turned their heads to see Dana in her Japanese disguise. Her hairstyle was changed to a high ponytail that was tied by an elegant white ribbon bow, along with her bangs departed into two. Her outfit was a magenta kimono top with the edges of it white and a dark mauve turtle neck, a double white ribbon belt around her waist that was tied the same way as her ribbon bow on her hair, a long dark mauve skirt with double magenta lines in the bottom part that nearly reached her ankles, and white socks with waraji straw sandals that were slightly adjusted to match her foot size. She already had on the samurai helmet, chest plus neck armor, thigh guards, shoulder pads that were similar to Akemi's, and gauntlets with black fingerless gloves. Her whip was tied by a mauve with red sash that was holding both the armor and thigh guards.

"Well, what do you boys think?" Dana asked, letting out a small smile while placing a hand on her hip.

"Wow…" Leo muttered as he covered the tint of red in his cheeks by putting on the samurai helmet. Dana was able to spot that and giggled quietly to herself.

"Aw, yeah!" beamed Mikey.

"Cool," commented Raph.

"You look nice, Dana," complimented Donnie.

Usagi only let out a small grin, as if saying he liked her new look.

"Please, she still looks weird either way," insulted Kintaro in a 'I don't care' tone. This caused the Turtles and Usagi to glare at him. Dana, on the other hand, kept her smile while rolling her eyes.

"It's fine, guys," she spoke up to stop them from saying or doing anything. "The whole point is that we blend in perfectly to hear what the bad guys are up to. And hearing from you five, I know that I have nothing to worry about," Dana then got on her horse and put on her mask.

Leo began to smile. He appreciated how Dana wasn't so easily insulted by Kintaro. She truly was a cool girl, in his eyes.

"What about me? You're missing a horse, fools!" Kintaro said, noticing there were only six horses instead of seven.

Usagi and Raph looked at each other, smirking. Raph opened a basket and stuffed Kintaro in there.

"All right, get in there, shorty. And don't make a peep," he told the holy child.

"Let me out of here! I told you I don't like small spaces! I will have your head for this!" protested Kintaro, before Raph closed the basket.

"Don't worry, young one, this is for your own good," assured Usagi, as he and Raph put him on a horse.

"Excitable little guy, isn't he?" Donnie replied before putting on his mask. "Hmm, not at all what I pictured as the mystical savior of the realm would be like."

"I think he's just grumpy because he missed breakfast," Raph said while getting on his horse.

"We all did. So hungry," complained Mikey.

"Quiet, ninjas. Let's blend in," Leo told them, already putting on his mask and began riding.

Usagi, Dana, and the other Turtles followed him…Well, all except Raph; whom was having a hard time riding his horse.

"Oh, man! Easy girl! Why do horses hate me?!"

* * *

"Hurry, stragglers," ordered Sumo Kama, "Keep up! The master awaits us."

The Turtles, Usagi, and Dana managed to blend in with the other samurai. No one suspected anything out of the ordinary.

"Spread out. But do not let Sumo Kuma spot you," Usagi whispered to Leo and the others, whom nodded in response.

They moved away from the group, trying to listen in on what Sumo Kuma's men were talking about.

"I don't trust Master Jei," one warrior said to another.

"But there is something in his voice that compels me," the second samurai replied.

"He is a wise leader. We must obey at whatever the coast."

The others heard the conversation and looked at each other.

"Master Jei?" Asked Raph in a whispered tone. Even Dana didn't like the sound of that.

 _What is up with this Jei guy everyone's talking about?_ the bat heroine contemplated to herself. _Something smells bad here...and it's not Mikey for eating broccoli_.

Suddenly, Sumo Kuma started to get a weird scent in the air. He slowly turned his head, looking around his men…until he noticed six warriors that were not the same as the others. Including his female bodyguard. He lifted up his kanabo, signaling his samurai warriors to halt.

This made Leo look around a little worriedly. Along with Dana sharing the same concerns.

Sumo Kuma turned around and said, "We have intruders in our midst," while raising his kanabo.

The ronin warriors began to surround the six heroes until they were in the middle. The bat heroine lightly gulped, realizing that she, the Turtles, and Usagi were caught. Usagi placed his hand on his sword, ready to use it when the time was right. Once they gathered around them, Sumo Kuma's men aimed their arrows at the six imposters.

"Oh, no. Watch out!" warned Leo as he took off his mask, unsheathing his sword.

One of the bad ronins shot the first arrow that was about to Mikey. Fortunately, Usagi came in and deflected the arrow with his sword.

"Whoa! Thanks, Usagi dude," Mikey replied.

Usagi began to take down a few guards that were Sumo Kuma's. Just then, a bad ronin was heading towards Leo, about to strike his sword. Before he could defend himself, someone threw a helmet at the ronin hard enough to knock him off his horse. Leo turned his head to see who did that and smiled.

"Nice toss," he complemented the bat detective, whom shared a sweet smirk at him.

"Thanks. Now, come on! Time to move," Dana said as she and the others began to ride their horses away.

And so, the chase was on. The Turtles, Usagi, and Dana rode their horses with Sumo Kuma and his stragglers close behind. They began to battle while moving at the same time.

"How did you find us out?" Leo questioned while blocking Sumo Kuma's kanabo attacks with his katana blade.

"You smell different!" he answered.

"What?" Raph questioned while sniffing himself, "Why do we smell different?"

"We live in the sewers, dude," Mikey answered, "Not hard to figure out."

 _And I'm so used to going into the Turtles' home many times, that my bat nose isn't bothered by their scent,_ Dana supposed in thought, while avoiding a few of Sumo Kuma's men whom were trying to get her.

Just then, one warrior jumped onto Raph's horse. Fortunately, the Hothead was able to throw him off his horse. Donnie knocks down a warrior off his horse with his bo staff, and eventually fought another that was using a wooden spear. Their weapons clashed into each other's.

"Heads up!" Mikey spoke when knocking Donnie's sparrer off his horse.

Dana grabbed her whip from her sash and began striking from behind to get the ronin warriors off her tail. She kept using her weapon to either scare their horses enough to move into a different location, smack their helmets hard enough until they were on backwards and couldn't see, and or just use it to deflect upcoming arrows.

Speaking of arrows, three ronin each fired arrow that was about to his Usagi. Fortunately, after defeating another rider, he dodges and deflected them.

Then, Mikey, whom was off his horse, jumped from tree to tree until he kicked off a samurai from his horse and was standing on the creature like he was riding a surf board.

"Sweet landing, Mikey!" Dana shouted loud enough for him to her hear.

"Thanks, dudette," Mikey said before seeing something heading his female friend's way. "Look out!" he warned while pointing.

Dana turned her head to see more warriors firing more arrows. And some of them were coming towards the heroine bat's direction! Just then, a certain Leader in Blue appeared and defended Dana from the arrows by slashing them. Mikey, then, threw some throwing stars at the three samurai warriors that caused them to fall off.

"Thanks, Leo," she told him, secretly relieved that Leo came just in time.

"Don't mention it," he said with one of his proud smiles Dana liked while steering his horse back to where Usagi was and said, "This way!"

Nodding her head, Dana stayed close to Leo on this horse chase battle.

"Faster, Kappa and Komori-Onna! We are losing them!" called out Usagi.

The six heroes now appeared to be out of danger while still moving fast enough to run past a tiny group of dino creatures. Just when the team thought they were safe, more riders were still chasing them.

"Uh, Usagi?" Dana started, seeing that the bad ronin were coming up on both sides of where they were riding. The Ronin Rabbit noticed and thought of a plan.

"Move ahead, Kappa and Komori-Onna." he ordered before steering his horse away from the group.

 _Please, be careful,_ she told him in thought.

Usagi took down three warriors that were with Sumo Kuma. Once they were out of the way, Usagi stood up from his horse, made a big leap, and landed on his enemy's horse to strike at him. Sumo Kuma grabbed his katana strike, like it was nothing, before trying to hit the Rabbit Ronin, only for Usagi to jump back on to his own horse.

"I have heard of you, Long Eared. I will relish crushing your proud skull," Sumo Kuma clashed his kanabo with Usagi's blade. "You are no match for me, little one!"

When he wasn't looking, Donnie whacked Sumo Kuma's horse with his bo staff; resulting Sumo Kuma to fall off forward, knock into a rock, and groaned.

 _Let's hope that hit knocked some sense and Jei's control out of Sumo Kuma,_ pondered Dana, after watching the whole thing from a distance.

Meanwhile, Mikey jumped off his horse and spin kicked on a few more warriors to take down. When Raph turned around, knocking out another samurai, his horse stood up a little to cause the basket Kintaro was in to fall off and roll down the hill.

"Pugtaro!" called out Mikey. He quickly rode on Raph's horse and they were both galloping to save the holy child.

"Saving this brat better be worth it!" Raph replied.

"Hey! What's going on out there?" replied an angry Kintaro, whom was unaware of the predicament, "You stupid kappa! I'll get you for this! You are the worst bodyguards! You couldn't protect a rock!"

Just then, from a distance, Dana noticed the basket tumbling down fast enough to hit something.

"Oh, no, Kintaro! He's off the horse and about to hit a tree!" exclaimed Dana to Donnie and Leo.

"Can you fly down there and get him? Or use any of your special whips?" asked Leo.

"Not with this armor covering my wings. And my long lasso and stun whip were left back home," answered the Bat Detective.

"Guys, look!" Donnie called out when pointing at a certain rabbit ronin grabbing some bow and arrows from another warrior before knocking him out.

"My…brain…feels…like…mochi!" groaned Kintaro, still spinning out of control.

Usagi pulled out the bow, firing two arrows at a perfect range. They hit each other, causing them to land in front of the tree the basket was about to crash into. This caused Kintaro to catapult into the air until Usagi caught him, with his horse skidding to a stop.

"All right! Nice shot and catch, Usagi!" exclaimed Dana, impressed by how he saved Kintaro like that. Her expression changed when she saw more ronin firing more arrows at her plus her friends. "Uh oh."

"Ride!" shouted Usagi.

The Turtles and Dana joined Usagi to continue moving.

"They're gaining on us!" exclaimed Leo, while looking back.

"Hurry, Kappa and Komori-Onna! Ride faster!" Usagi told them, snapping the reins harder on his horse.

Suddenly, they noticed something up ahead.

"Oh, no. Cliff!" shouted Donnie.

"Everyone, brace for impact!" cried Dana, before screaming with the others.

As their horses leaped off, the six heroes fell down the cliff…

 ** _To be continued…_**

* * *

 **Don't you guys just hate 'cliffhangers'? *laughs a little* See what I did there? Anyway, the next part of the story won't be posted for a long while. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment on what you all thought of it. And if any of you have questions, don't be afraid to ask.**

 **Also, once again, special thanks to Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8.** **I couldn't have made this story without the help of my Best Fan Fiction Friends.**

 **Oh, and I forgot to mention that Dana's outfit plus look was inspired by a character in the Usagi comics. Her name is Tomoe Ame. She's an onna bugeisha, a lady samurai of the Geishu clan. Her most notable position within the clan is as Lord Noriyuki's personal bodyguard. She made an appearance in the TMNT 2003 series, "The Real World, Part 1" episode.**

 **And please understand that those were the only Japanese words I looked up and could possibly work with. So, if you already looked it up, only to find it means something else, I don't want to hear it. Just bear with me here. I do know for a fact that 'Komori-Onna' is Japanese for 'Bat Woman'. In case you guys were asking.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **TMNT Fan Forever**!


	2. Osoroshi no Tabi (TMNT Fan Fic)

**Hey, everyone. Hope you are all doing well. I would like to thank those whom left a comment on my first story. I promise you that my next story might leave you at the edge of your seats because there are some parts that will make you go "Whaaaaat?!".**

 **Like I said before in the beginning of the first story I made, I would like to thank four fan fiction friends whom have helped me make this story happen: Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8. Mostly HK, BabyPink, and DG. BabyPink and DG helped me work on a new bat Yokai legend that all of you will be reading about in this three-part story (Or rather soon in this second part), along with some other things. And HK has helped by not only idea, but also checker on storyline being accurate and all that.**

 **There are drawings I made in the Wattpad app by phones called "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. Some images are based on/used for this story, as well. And possibly some future drawings of characters you will know in this second and third part of the Samurai Saga. Right now, in case you do want to check out the drawings, look at chapters 11, 23, and 25.**

 **And, just to give you all a heads up, this is the first time I've written anything so tragic. One involving my OC, Dana. Whom is one of many characters created by me plus owned. I do not own anything else.**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here is the next story. Along with a recap to get people up to speed. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Previously on Tales of the TMNT: Yojimbo**

 _~A rabbit samurai named Miyamoto Usagi from another world was assigned to take a young pug child named Kintaro to the temple palace. And the child was…not so easy to deal with~_

"You don't even have a horse? What kind of Ronin are you!? Can you carry me, you smelly rabbit?" he then caught up to the ronin and stopped in front of him, "Hello? Can you hear me with those giant ears!?" Kintaro nearly spoke louder on that last question, as if Usagi had a hearing problem.

 _~Of course, there were other problems for the Ronin Rabbit, besides Kintaro's bad attitude. An evil wolf called Jei, a Sojutsu Master and Spell Conjurer, not only wanted to end Usagi, but also wanted Kintaro for his dark plans. So, he decided to summon five warriors to use and manipulate. And guess who those five warriors were~_

"…I will bring great warriors to destroy you, Miyamoto Usagi," Jei reached into his kimono and brought out five talismans: four turtles and a bat, "Powerful pawns to strike when the time is right."

As he cited an incantation in Japanese, the objects in his right hand began to magically float into the air and glow. The turtle figures each glowed a different color: orange, purple, red, and blue. The bat object was glowing dark magenta. In just a flash of lightning, the five talismans turned into the Turtles and Dracana!

 _~Once he had the Turtles and Dana under his spell, Jei sent them to do what he desired: the death of Usagi and bringing Kintaro to Jei, alive. Fortunately, after snapping the Turtles and Dana out of it during a battle against Usagi, the five warriors were out of Jei's control and now seek Usagi's help in getting them back into their world~_

"…We must have been transported to a different dimension. One inhabited by anthropomorphic animals instead of humans," explained Donnie.

"Sounds like my kind of place!" exclaimed Mikey, whom was holding a stick with his slice of pizza over the fire and bit into it.

"I wouldn't stay comfy here for long. We have a home to protect. Not to mention a family," Dana reminded, rubbing her arms anxiously. She couldn't bear the thought of never seeing the people she cared for ever again. Seeing the distress in her face, Leo gave Dana a small side hug to cheer her up. It, sort of, did worked. Just a little bit.

"We know, Dana," Leo told her, "The question is, how?"

Usagi took a moment to think of an answer. "Hmmm…The monks of Kintaro's order may know a way. They are powerful mystics," he explained.

 _~But nobody said that this journey was going to be easy. The Turtles, Usagi, and Dana had to deal with bad ronin warriors that were led by a mercenary called Sumo Kuma~_

The Turtles, Usagi, and Dana rode their horses with Sumo Kuma and his stragglers hot on their trail.

"They're gaining on us!" exclaimed Leo, while looking back.

"Hurry, Kappa and Komori-Onna! Ride faster!" Usagi told them, snapping the reins harder on his horse.

 _~And, if things weren't interesting enough, they were so busy running away from Sumo Kuma's warriors, the team didn't realize where they were heading~_

"Oh, no. Cliff!" shouted Donnie.

"Everyone, brace for impact!" cried Dana, before screaming with the others.

 _~Will the Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana survive the fall? And, if so, can Usagi get his allies back home and protect Kintaro from Jei's evil clutches? All will be revealed very soon~_

* * *

 **Tales of the TMNT: Osoroshi no Tabi (Translation: Journey of Fear)**

"They're gaining on us!" exclaimed Leo, while looking back on a group of bad ronin on horses chasing them.

"Hurry, Kappa and Komori-Onna! Ride faster!" Usagi told them, snapping the reins harder on his horse.

"Everyone, brace for impact!" cried Dana, before screaming with the others when they fell off a cliff.

The Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana crashed through an enormous tree. They were knocked out for who knows how long, but the team soon woke up while recovering from the hard fall.

"Ugh, feels like we fell off the Empire State Building," groaned Leo.

Usagi stood up, placing a hand on his head from the crash.

"You guys okay?" Donnie asked his brothers.

"Only broke my skull. Nothing important," retorted Raph as he got up in pain.

Just then, Leo noticed someone was missing.

"Wait…where's Dana?" he asked his brothers, slightly panicking on the inside while looking around.

It didn't take him long to hear a familiar moan that was coming from behind a giant pebble. He quickly got up and found Dana lying face first on the ground. A sigh of relief escaped from him, seeing that the female detective survived the crash like him and the others.

"Ugh… Where's Pugtaro?" Mikey questioned, with some arrows sticking out of the back bottom of his suit.

"He's here," Usagi said when going to a sleeping Kintaro with a small dinosaur resting on his back. "Wake up, little one."

Kintaro turned, causing his back to lay on top of the poor tiny creature. "Ugh, what happened?"

"You have your rabbit pal to thank for all this, Puggy," answered a deadpanned Raph.

"You okay, Dana?" questioned Leo as he assisted her by gently lifting her up.

"I'm fine, Leo," the heroine bat assured him, "If it weren't for the fact that I have a fast healing factor, I think I would be limping for days from doing something like that. Maybe weeks."

Although thankful that his friend, along with his brothers, were good, Leo was still angry at a certain Rabbit Ronin. He turned around and walked right towards Usagi.

"What were you thinking leading us off a cliff, Usagi?!" demanded Leo.

"It wasn't as if I wanted us to plunge over a cliff," argued Usagi, "And if we would've stayed, we would surely have been slain!"

"Ha! We could've taken those guys! _I_ should've been leading us!" Leo replied before walking past Usagi in anger.

The bat heroine couldn't help but feel worried on what just happened between Leo and Usagi. She knew that Usagi would never let the team fall off the cliff on purpose. Everyone makes mistakes…even leaders.

"Enough already! Take me to my temple this instant!" ordered Kintaro, after getting back up.

"We don't have need to take you anywhere, you little brat!" remarked Raph. "Come on, guys, I've have enough of these two jerks!"

The other turtles followed Leo, along with a reluctant Dana. Usagi put his kasa hat back on while moving opposite to where the Turtle team was going. Kintaro just blew raspberries at the Turtles before following Usagi.

"Yo, dudes. This isn't a good idea," pointed out Mikey.

"Mikey's right," added Donnie, whom turned around with the others stopping. "Usagi said the only way back to our dimension is in Kintaro's temple."

Leo remained quiet, still stubborn and irritated in whether to continue with Usagi or not. He soon felt a calm hand on his left shoulder. The Leader in Blue didn't need to look on who it was.

"Leo, our only chance to go back home is Usagi leading us to Kintaro's palace," reasoned Dana, calm and firmly. She, then, moved her hand from his shoulder to his cheek; which caused him to reveal his sapphire eyes to the bat heroine, "…unless you wanna stay here, it's our best shot."

Leo sighed in defeat. Although he didn't trust Usagi leading, he trusted and believed Dana.

 _I got to learn how to say 'no' to that face when she wants to convince me,_ Leo thought to himself. Sometimes he hated her for being the voice of reason in his life…Well, not really.

While walking, Kintaro turned around, lightly screamed, and ran further to Usagi. He saw the Turtles and Dana continuing their journey with the Rabbit Ronin. The Turtles took off the armor they wore, but kept the knee pads, kasa hats, backpacks, gauntlets, foot armor, and arm pads. As for Dana, she ditched the armor, gauntlets with black fingerless gloves, thigh guards, but kept the rest of her outfit, along with a kasa hat hanging behind her, like the Turtles. Even had a small backpack to carry where her Dracana costume was. But Leo insisted that he would do it for her.

And, thus, their adventure continued…

* * *

The day began to slowly turned to dusk. In a peculiar forest full of twisted trees and glowing blue mushrooms, an elk scurried by, around the same time the six heroes plus holy child walked through. Usagi bowed at a statue and continued on. The Turtles, Dana, and Kintaro kept walking…Until Kintaro went back to the statue and bowed respectfully. They, then, jumped over a long plus big log. Mikey kicked Kintaro from behind to help him move across, much to the little one's amusement. Dana just flew over, with the help of her bat wings.

"The fastest way to the Temple of the Sky Buddha is through the Tangled Skym, and over Haha Naru Yamu, the Mother of Mountains," explained Usagi.

The news made Kintaro catch up to Usagi and stuttered, "T-the f-f-forest of the Tangled Skym? B-But everyone knows that place is haunted."

"Haunted? Sweet!" popped out Mikey from out of nowhere, which made Kintaro scream and growl. Then, Mikey popped up from behind Kintaro, upside down, scaring him again. "Ghosts are cool, Kintaro! As long as they don't scare you, possess you, or try to suck your soul out of your body through your belly button, there's nothing to worry about."

"You're not helping, ugly frog!" Kintaro retorted before smacking Mikey in the head, "Yojimbo, I demand that you take me around the forest. And carry me!"

"I'll carry you," Raph spoke. "Off another cliff."

Seeing that everyone was moving, Dana stopped and turned to face Kintaro. Even though he was a spoiled brat, she didn't want Kintaro to feel scared and lonely.

"If you want, Kintaro, you can stay in front of me while we walk through the path," offered Dana, with a caring smile. "You can even hold my hand so you won't feel scared."

"Bah! I'm not scared! I would rather stay than have some traitor of her own kind watch over me! Let alone hold hands with!" he answered while crossing his arms. This made the bat heroine give a blank plus muddled look.

 _Traitor of my own kind? What is Kintaro talking about?_

"Dana, you coming?" Leo asked from a distance.

"I'll be right there," called out Dana. She looked at Kintaro one more time, before leaving.

When Kintaro was left alone, he felt like something was out there, watching him. He looked around, only to see dozens or more white-Buddhist statues praying. Even heard something snarling. Too afraid, he began screaming and ran until he was in front of Dana. The bat heroine lightly smirked at herself, seeing that Kintaro finally agreed to stay with the group.

 _Some things never change,_ thought Dana, when thinking about her earlier years in taking care of her little brother, Tommy. Those brought back some good memories. She had only hoped that she will reunite with her family soon.

* * *

Moments later, it became dark. The Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana were now in the middle of the haunted forest. They continued walking while avoiding large tree branches and stumps. Dana let Mikey watch over Kintaro in front of him for a while. She still stayed between those two and the other four in front, in order to keep guard in the middle.

"This place isn't creepy," replied Mikey, whom let out a nervous laugh, "Nope! Not at all. Uh, uh. Not in the slightest." He suddenly screamed, causing Kintaro to jump into Mikey's arms in terror.

"Ah! What?" Kintaro asked.

Dana even turned around with her whip, thinking some evil creature was there to harm her friends. Turns out, it was only another small dino creature. Much to Kintaro's annoyance.

"Tokogae lizards?" questioned Kintaro, before smacking Mikey in the face.

Dana sighed in relief, as she drew her weapon back into her ribbon. Though slightly livid at Mikey for almost giving her a heart attack, she remained calm and said nothing before continuing with the others.

"Look, Usagi, we've been walking forever. I think it's time we made camp," suggested Leo.

"No. We're in the heart of Yokai territory," he told the Leader in Blue, "We must continue, if we know what's good for us."

A few minutes later, Dana told Mikey that she'll watch over Kintaro from behind while he caught up with the others. As she took her shift, Dana decided to get some answers from the holy child. But she had to be discreet, at the same time.

"How are you doing, Kintaro?" she asked.

"Pfft. Like you care," retorted the young pug boy, crossing his arms.

"I actually do, in fact," reasoned Dana, whom ducked her head from another tree branch, "Seeing that we're in an unknown place while taking you to your home, it's important that I make sure you're safe from harm. Why would you think that I wouldn't?"

"Please, your kindness is nothing but an act. You're just saying all those things until you, one day, betray those kappa fools and dumb rabbit,"

Dana only raised a curious eyebrow before saying, "And what makes you believe that I would do such a thing?"

"Because you've done it before. I heard all about you taking lives of peasant people and warriors, for the last couple of months. You don't care about anyone,"

"That's not true," objected Dana, still in a reasonable manner. "I would never abandon my friends, and just because you've heard a few rumors, it doesn't mean they're all correct nor have anything to do with me. You need to know all the facts, first, before jumping to conclusions and accusing others for no reason,"

"No reason? Ha! You really are a foolish komori-onna. Everyone knows the story of your kind being wiped out by one of your own. You even carry the same weapon as the Akuto-Komori," Kintaro said to Dana while pointing at her whip, which was located on the side of her white ribbon belt.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're telling me that there's a legend about ancient creatures that look exactly like me and one of them became bad for some potential cause. In this world." Observed the heroine detective.

"No duh, dumb komori," scoffed Kintaro, moving further from the bat detective. Even though he was mean and insulted her, once again, on the conversation, Dana already got enough information out of him.

 _Maybe that's why Usagi was looking at me so strangely last night. He must have thought I was this evil human bat warrior girl from some Japanese legend that only exists here in this dimension,_ deliberated Dana. _I wonder what happened. Maybe the story holds the key to why Jei would summon me here, also, besides the Turtles._

While they continued, the team didn't notice a certain evil wolf watching them from a far that looked like an eerie tree. But they did notice a flock of crows screeching at them while standing on some trees that were around their path. Dana, along with the Turtles and Kintaro, were slightly creeped out by how their eyes were similar to Jei's. Then, the crows flew out of the trees, making the others watch. The heroine bat kept close to the young child, in case something bad was about to happen. She could her the poor little pug pant in fear.

Suddenly, someone was no longer with the group.

"Hey! Hold up, guys. Mikey's gone." Pointed out Donnie. Everyone looked at each other with concern.

"Mikey!" called out Raph.

"Michelangelo!" shouted Leo, while scanning the forest.

"Mikey, where are you?!" yelled Dana, cuffing her hands around her mouth.

"Stinky Lizard!" cried out Kintaro.

The Turtles team continued calling out to their missing teammate/brother, worried about whether he was okay or not. Out of nowhere, Mikey appeared right in front of Raph; which caused him to pose in a frightened stance. The others turned to notice the Wild One smiling in a creepy way.

"What are you smiling about? We don't have time for games!" Raph told his brother.

"No games, bro," replied Mikey, whom still had an eerie grin on his face, "I was just…looking for…pizza!"

The three Turtles, along with Dana, only gave a blank look at him. They knew Mikey was whacky in his own way, but this seemed like a whole new level of crazy. Even for Mikey himself.

"Yeah! Come on, let's keep going!" he told everyone while moving.

"Hurry. We must not stop," Usagi told the others before continuing forward.

Raph looked at his brothers and Dana. The four of them felt like something was off with the orange clad…and they believe way more than usual.

* * *

A few minutes later, the group was now ducking under a tree from their path with Usagi in the lead. It didn't take long for Donnie to notice something else different from his little brother.

"Um, Mikey? Where are your nunchucks?" questioned the Smart One, making Dana look behind Donnie to notice that small detail, too.

"Why do I need nunchucks when I can use a sword?" Mikey replied while holding up Leo's katana with his left hand. This caused Dana's eyes to grew wide in shock with Leo turning around to notice he's missing a blade. Mikey just giggled while swinging the stolen sword up and down with his right arm.

"What is wrong with you, Mikey? Give it back, now!" ordered Leo.

Mikey then stood with one leg up while keeping the katana in balance on top of his nose, somehow.

"You'll just have to get it from me," he told his older brother, blowing raspberries.

"Why you little–" Leo lunged at his brother to get his katana back, but Mikey hopped away and wiggled his shell butt at him. Now he was really irritated by his younger brother's behavior. "Mikey! Get back here!" Leo tried to tackle him, but Mikey made a back flip over him and landed on his shell.

Mikey continued laughing as he ran way with the blade still in his hands. Dana quickly helped the Leader in Blue get back on his feet. She didn't need to use her detective skills to know that something was wrong.

"You okay?" she asked.

"…Peachy," sighed Leo, with an unamused look on his face.

Then, Mikey knocked Donnie down.

"Mikey!" exclaimed Raph, whom tried to catch him. But Mikey managed to avoid and bash him down, still laughing and grinning. If things were not weird enough, he climbed up a tree using his feet, like he was defying the laws of physics. "Mikey?" questioned Raph, with a confused look on his face.

"Okay, there's got to be a good explanation to why Mikey is like this," reasoned Dana out loud, with Mikey acting like a crazed monkey and smacking his turtle behind at her plus the others. "Like, he ate something in the forest that's causing him to go more crazy than usual. Or he's being possessed by an unknown force from this place. Or–"

Before she could finish her philosophy, Usagi jumped up and hitted Mikey in the head with the hilt of his sword. They both landed on the ground, with the sword now off Mikey's reach. Usagi landed safely. As for Mikey, however, he dispersed into a bunch of Autumn leaves.

"…He's not the real Mikey," concluded the bat detective, whom was slightly surprised with the others. "That was my next guess."

Raph, Donnie, and Usagi looked at the leaf pile to reveal a strange racoon-like dog wearing a green mawashi. The two turtles gasped in disbelief.

"What the heck is that?" questioned Donnie.

"And what happened to Mikey!?" added Raph.

The creature, then, disappeared into a pile of leaves, only to reappear and knock down Donnie. It used its tail to bounce around like a kangaroo before smacking Raph hard enough to fall on the ground and ran away.

"We must catch it!" exclaimed Usagi, following the creature with the others. "Hurry!"

"Get back here, you!" called out Leo, whom finally got his sword back.

The Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana were now chasing the mischievous little creature whom was imitating a certain freckled turtle they knew…Well, Dana paced herself to make sure Kintaro doesn't get left behind and or captured when no one was looking. She had to juggle on following the group and watching the holy child.

"Some kind of explanation, Usagi?" Donnie asked, while still moving.

"It is Tanuki. Ba Keh Tanuki," Usagi clarified. "Magical tricksters that can either help or cause great harm."

Dana heard him from a distance. She didn't know whether to be fascinated or bothered by these so-called 'Tanuki' beings.

"You better not be leading us into more danger, Usagi!" warned Leo, making Dana worry once more.

 _Now is not the time for who should be the better leader, Leonardo,_ Dana thought to herself, considering she doesn't want to be mean at her favorite turtle. Or anyone, for that matter. As she was still keeping an eye on Kintaro, Dana didn't notice Raph passing her plus Donnie.

Just then, Donnie made a complete stop that caused Kintaro to smack into his shell and collapsed. Dana, whom was still focused on Kintaro, lend down her hand for him.

"Uh…Hey, wait a second…why do we have _two_ Raphaels?" questioned the Smart One.

Everyone stopped to notice that Donnie was right. There were literally two Raphs! The sight of this caused the Turtle team to stare in a completely baffled way. Even Dana, whom now noticed the doubled Raphs, had her eyes wider than before and mouth hanging in shock.

"What?" the second Raph replied.

"What? A second Raphael?" the first Raph responded.

"Oh, my bat, not again," mumbled Dana, with a distressed look on her face.

Kintaro smacked Dana's hand away from him while getting back up. Although this would have bothered the bat detective, her thoughts were too focused on the situation to even care.

"One of them is a disgusting Yokai!" cried Kintaro, while pointing.

"You freaky imposter! I'm taking ya down!" One of the Raphs said, before tackling the other. They looked so similar, that it seemed impossible to tell from the real one to the fake.

The sight of them caused Dana to bring back some disturbing memories that were similar to this phenomenon. It made her think of the time she had to deal with an evil lookalike of herself, once, created by Baxter Stockman and ordered to hunt the Turtles by Shredder. Dana had to fight her for stealing her identity with the Turtles on the sidelines, figuring out which minor mutant bat girl was which.

While she continued staring, too stunned to help figure out which two was the real Raph and the other a shapeshifting Tanuki, Usagi lowered his kasa hat until his eyes were covered and came a little closer.

"It's that one! The one on the left!" Kintaro pointed out. This caused Dana to snap out of her own train of thoughts and panicked for not helping sooner.

"No, wait! We don't really know–" Dana began, only to watch Usagi hit the Raph on the right that caused his head to turn into a Tanuki's. "…Never mind."

The Tanuki teleported and ran away, leaving Raph and the others behind.

"Huh?" Raph looked up, whom was still on the ground. "Thanks, Rabbit Man. I owe ya. There's one thing I can't stand. It's an impost–"

Before he could finish, Usagi whacked Raph; causing his whole body to turn into a Tanuki's. This made the Turtles, along with Dana, to stare, bewildered once more.

 _They were **both** Tanukis?! I did not see that coming, _pondered Dana.

Leo and Donnie tried to catch him, but ended up crashing into each other, instead. Usagi unsheathed his katana blade, while watching the creature. The Raph-Headed Tanuki giggled while he hopped around a few times, glided down on top of a tree using an umbrella made of leaves before escaping.

"You got to be pulling my plastron," Donnie said.

"This night just keeps getting crazier by the second," spoked Dana, agreeing with how strange things became.

The group kept following the creature by jumping over a huge branch, one by one. Dana tried to assist Kintaro on that part, but he still refused on her help and fell on the other side. The bat detective only sighed while shaking her head lightly, before releasing her bat wings and flew towards the others. Eventually, they stopped and hid down; for the team found what appeared to be a camp that belonged to the Tanuki creatures. Their camp was this humongous, hollowed tree with the bark cut off. Some of them had spears that were pointed at the two missing Turtles, whom were tied up, gagged, and each served over a bonfire.

Leo, Donnie, and Dana gasped in horror.

"No…" murmured Leo, incredulity.

Dana just covered her mouth, too shocked and speechless to find out that the Tanuki were about have Raph and Mikey as their evening supper.

"Raph…Mikey…" whispered Donnie.

"We got to help them," Leo said, about to take out his katana.

"Not yet," Usagi told him. "You will lead us all into danger."

"Listen to what he says, lizard fool," Kintaro whispered while pointing at Leo.

Dana believed that they _should_ follow Usagi's directions. After all, he knows these creatures more out of her and the Turtles. Before she could make her reason, Leo spoke, first.

"Are you crazy? They'll be turned into turtle kabobs!" argued Leo. "I'm saving them."

"Wait, Leo, I think we should–" the bat detective tried to convince him, but was already too late. After watching Leo and Donnie charging in the scene with their weapons up, Dana just dropped her forehead on the tree they were hiding behind, while lightly groaning to herself.

 _Why does he have to be such a stubbornly cute idiot, sometimes?_ Dana questioned in thought.

Usagi groaned, as well, before whispering to Dana, "Watch the boy.". He, then, lunged forward to where the others were heading, taking out his katana.

"I'll…uh…stay here as back up," called out Kintaro. "And make sure that the komori-onna doesn't do any funny business, like before," he added while pointing at the bat detective, whom still had her face on the tree.

She picked her head up and gave a deadpan look to Kintaro that said, 'Really? Now? You're bringing that subject up, again?'.

Once Leo and Donnie came down to their camp, the Tanuki absconded without a fight or anything. Donnie assisted Mikey by using his bo staff to knock him over the fire and untying him. Along with pulling the rope around his younger brother's mouth.

"Thanks, bro. My butt was turning extra crispy!" Mikey told Donnie while rubbing his shell bottom.

Leo helped Raph out of being cooked. When that happened, the Hothead ripped off all the rope around him. "It's payback time!" exclaimed Raph.

He gets up to hit a Tanuki with a kasa hat, only to miss. The Tanuki jumped away and began to wiggle his own butt and spank it. This, clearly, was a signal to summon more of his Tanuki friends. They came down from the same gigantic tree where their camp was. Mikey freaked out when it started to rain Tanuki. Leo went into a fighting stance, ready to face any of them. Suddenly, one popped out from above his shell and pulled his mask until it was sideways.

"Fuzzy little freaks!" replied Leo, whom tried to adjust his mask.

Donnie followed one going up the tree. He tried to smack the creature, but it disappeared into one of the holes.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

The next thing the Smart One knew, Donnie was using his bo staff to try to hit the Tanuki that kept popping in and out of different holes. It looked like he was playing Whack-a-Mole. Or rather, Whack-a-Tanuki. Then, several misses later, the Tanuki reappeared on Donnie's head and pulled him backward, causing Donnie to tumble down.

Dana just cringed from a distance at how badly her turtle friends were getting beaten. She knew that this was not going to end well, but didn't think it would be _that_ bad.

 _This is seriously a new low, even for us._

Raph climbed up, growling. He was still angry at the Tanuki for almost baking him on a fire and eat him. Raph lunged for the creature, but he missed, once again, and landed on a big branch. The Tanuki creature ran up the tree like it was nothing, flipped backwards, and landed on Raph's face; which caused him to tumble down, like Donnie. The Tanuki that was on Raph dispersed into leaves, after the hard land.

Mikey was dealing with one Tanuki on his face until another tripped him and got him to fell face first on a mud puddle.

"That's it! I've had it with these furry little nuts! They're–" he began while picking himself up with his nunchuck out, ready to fight them off, only to find out that the little tricksters were no longer in sight, "Gone?"

Seeing that it was now safe, Dana and Kintaro came down to Usagi and the defeated Turtles. Leo putted away his sword before taking a small glance at the bat detective, first. He was kind of glad that she was not in danger or anything. His gaze soon shifted to the Ronin Rabbit, whom was in front of Dana and Kintaro.

"You see, Usagi? We had to attack," Leo told him.

"No. It would have been easier if we made a simple offering, which we need to do now," explained the Rabbit Ronin.

 _An offering? What kind of offering?_ Dana questioned herself, in thought.

Usagi brought out a carrot from his left sleeve and said, before biting a piece of it, "I am leaving this."

Raph laughed, arms crossed, then said, "What's up, doc?"

Donnie lightly hitted him from behind while Dana just rolled her eyes at that joke. The Turtle team watched Usagi place the bitten carrot on a rock.

"Does anyone have food for suitable offering," asked the Ronin Rabbit. "If we do not, the Tanuki will play us again."

 _So, in order to satisfy the Tanuki, we need to offer them food. Fascinating._

"I bet the dumb orange one has food!" Kintaro exclaimed while pointing at Mikey.

"Who's you callin' dumb, Puggy?" shouted Mikey, whom had his fists clenched.

"He's right, Mikey. Cough it up," demanded Donnie. Everyone, including Dana, knew that Mikey was the only one that carried a multiple supply of pizza around with him.

"Awww! But I'm down to two slices," he whined. Donnie growled, causing Mikey to give in. "Ugh, fine! Make a turtle starve, why don't cha?"

Mikey pulled out a slice of pizza from his belt and placed it next to Usagi's carrot. He whined, dejectedly, on doing this.

"Don't worry, Mikey. Once we get back home, you can have all the pizza you want to chow down," assured the bat heroine, trying to cheer him up.

"We got to move. I don't want to spend any more time in this forest than we have to," Leo said, pulling his kasa hat on.

The others soon followed. Little did anyone knew, someone was watching them from a distance, deep within the woods. The figure was barely hard to see when hiding in the shadows. The only thing noticeable was a pair of red eyes and a wicked smile underneath a red and black samurai wolf mask.

"That's right, you fools. Continue on with your little journey. I'll be keeping a close eye on every single one of you,"

The mysterious figure evilly chuckled, before disappearing into the night…

* * *

Meanwhile, later on that fateful night, the group jumped onto a mountain and began to climb it up. While walking through the rocky path, it began to rain. The Turtles and Dana had their kasa hats on to keep their heads dry. After passing through a stream, they jumped into a cave and continued moving through a triangular-shaped tunnel…which was covered in spider webs.

"Okay, what is this, dudes and dudette?" Mikey asked while poking a big web at a corner. "It's like a giant sticky loogie!"

"Worse. They're giant spider webs!" explained Donnie.

Mikey just licked his spider-poking finger. Even though this would repulse a certain female minor mutant, her mind was elsewhere. It didn't take long for a certain Leader in Blue to notice the young bat girl getting distracted.

"Something bothering you, Dana?" asked Leo, whom was by her side while walking.

"Just getting a weird vibe about this place," answered the bat detective. She had her arms crossed together while looking around. Not to mention her hat off. "I feel like I should know the cave we're passing through. But I don't have a single clue on where I've heard it before nor why."

A small shiver came out of Dana, making Leo wrap his arm around her. "It's okay. Whatever it is, I'll be sure protect you, no matter what," he guaranteed, resulting a warm smile from the bat-winged girl.

 _Glad to know I have someone helping me get through scary situations like this,_ mused Dana.

Soon, Raph started to feel a little itchy around the back of his head. Slightly irritated, he took off his hat. Once he did that, dozens or so spiders began to crawl out. The discovery caused Raph to scream and drop the hat.

"I don't like spiders, Yojimbo. Especially the oversized kind!" complained Kintaro.

"Be silent, Kintaro-sama!" scolded Usagi, whom stopped to face the holy child. "We must be prepared for anything," he told the group.

Suddenly, the group heard something from a distance. Or rather, _someone_.

"Help! Help me!" cried a woman's voice.

"This way!" Usagi exclaimed while moving forward. The Turtles, Kintaro, and Dana rushly followed Usagi until they carefully moved out of the tunnel to notice stoned pillars in a fogged-up area. Across them, there was a familiar anthropomorphic cat woman caught in a spider web.

"Usagi! Help me, please!" she begged, feeling weak and helpless.

"Akemi? How can this be?" the Ronin Rabbit questioned, in shock. Dana didn't need a hint to tell that those two were close friends plus knew each other.

"I'll save you!" Leo shouted, rushing in to help her.

 _Okay, now I **know** I've seen this somewhere before,_ Dana continued pondering. She soon noticed Usagi looking down at something. Curious, the bat detective followed his gaze and asked him, in concern, "What is it, Usagi?"

In less than a minute, the smoke cleared to reveal an enormous spider web. When seeing this, Dana's memory started to click; for she slowly realized why it all seemed familiar.

 _Wait a second… Dark cave, huge pit full of spiders plus webs, and a woman that Usagi knows? This sounds a lot like…_

Dana's eyes grew wide in realization. "Holy Tanuki, Leo's walking right into a trap!" she cried out loud, placing her hands on top of her head.

"No, Leonardo! Wait!" Usagi called out, thinking the same thing as the bat heroine.

Leo continued his rescue mission. He kept moving until he was right in front of the cat woman.

"Please, free me," pleaded the so-called 'Akemi'. Leo cutted her free with a small tanto blade and caught her when she collapsed into his arms.

"It's okay now. We'll help you," he told her.

Suddenly, her arms turned into large spider claws. She transformed into a spider woman, with Leo captured in her reach.

"Yes. Help me, ninja," laughed the Spider Lady, evilly. "Help me!"

She let out a roar, causing Leo to scream.

"Away, fiend!" Usagi shouted while jumping down and slashed his sword on her, with Dana flying down by his side. This caused her to let go of Leo. Once she temporarily retreated, Leo sighed in relief while getting up.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, turning her head towards the Leader in Blue.

"I'm fine, thanks to Usagi," Leo told her, before hearing the creature's familiar screech somewhere hidden in one of the pillared stones. "What the heck was that?"

"A Joroguma. She's a Spider Yokai that takes the top half appearance of an attractive woman someone cares about, in order to lure victims to her and consume them," explained Dana, keeping her guard to look for the evil spider witch. "That's why it all seemed familiar to me. I read about her in a Japanese myth book once."

Usagi looked at Dana in surprise, a little impressed on her small knowledge of what they were up against.

"Don't suppose you recall a weakness we could use against her?" Leo questioned in hope, still looking for Joroguma anywhere in sight.

"Unfortunately, no. I didn't get that far to complete the chapter on knowing how to defeat this creature," she suddenly heard Donnie screaming, and saw him fall off until he used his bo-staff to land on the spider web, instead of falling into a black abyss. Dana looked up to realize where the Spider Demon was. "Up there! She's right on top of where the others are!"

"Hurry, Leonardo and Dana-chan!" Usagi said, climbing up.

While the three of them moved as fast as they could, Raph, Mikey, and Kintaro stayed together while keeping their eyes out for the enemy. Just then, Joroguma, whom was upside-down on a rock pillar, grabbed Raph and laughed as she began to spin him around until he was tied up by her webbing.

"Déjà vu!" Raph said, before getting his head wrapped into a completed web cocoon. He was then thrown over until he landed next to Donnie; which resulted another scream out of the Smart One.

"Raph!" Mikey shouted. He was the only one left to protect Kintaro. Brining out his kusarigama chain, Mikey swung it around and tried to hit Joroguma while saying is oh-so catchphrase, "Booyakasha!"

Unfortunately, Joroguma dodged and pushed Mikey off the platform, causing him to land at the same place where his brothers were.

"You…ugly spider woman! I-I'll–" Kintaro stammered, trying to act brave.

Before Joroguma could flick the little one off with one tarsus, someone's whip had it wrapped around her claw and pulled away from Kintaro. She turned her head to see Dana in the air flying, using all her strength to keep the evil creature from harming him.

"You're not gonna touch him while I'm around!" grunted Dana.

Kintaro watched in awe, seeing that the Komori-Onna he was mean to was actually protecting him.

"Foolish komori-onna. Your little weapon does not scare me!" laughed the Spider Demon. Joroguma, then, spun herself around, causing Dana to fling all over the place while keeping a tight grip on her whip.

"Whoa!" The bat detective kept smacking into a bunch of pillared rocks until her whip got loose from her enemy's leg. When that happened, Dana knocked into Kintaro and they both screamed when falling into Joroguma's webbed trap.

Now, Leo and Usagi were the only ones left.

Joroguma immediately crawled to where Leo was climbing and said, "Ha! You cannot destroy Joroguma!"

Leo kept his distance from the Spider Demon, stepping backwards. But Joroguma swung her spider arms again, pushed him down, and lunged until she caught and webbed him into a cocoon, like Raph.

"Leonardo!" Usagi came from behind and stabbed Joroguma around the thorax region. He jumped back when the Spider Demon tried to attack him. Suddenly, Usagi was knocked down by Joroguma's spinneret web shooting. After that happened, he and Leo, whom was tossed by Joroguma, landed around where the others were.

Dana was on her back, bat wings still opened, struggling to get herself with her friends doing the same. She kind of wished that she had one of her special whips because they could have come in handy right about now.

"We're doomed! We're spider food!" cried Raph, whom managed to get his head out of the cocoon.

"Technically," corrected a certain Smart Turtle, "she's only going to drain our bodily fluids and leave us for–"

"Not helping, Donnie!" interrupted Raph.

Joroguma laughed at her prey, as she landed on her webbed trap.

"I will web you all like insects, and drain you dry."

This brought terror and worry for the bat detective. Not for herself, but for her Turtles friends, Usagi, and Kintaro. She would rather have the evil Spider Woman take her life, first. Even if it would give the people she cared about a chance to escape.

"Ah! Here she comes!" screamed Mikey.

"I don't wanna be eaten like a lowly bug! Do something, Usagi!" cried Kintaro.

The bat detective could only give the little one remorse eyes, feeling that she and the others were helpless to save each other.

"Even if you could break free, below you lies a bottomless pit!" chuckled Joroguma. Her faced changed into a spider's, when letting out a frightening shriek on front of Raph, causing him to scream. Now, she had six opal colored pupils, chelicera jaw, and slightly long tongue. Her black hair became a short, black pony tail.

"Hey, spider witch! Eight-legged butt face! Yeah, I'm talking to you!" shouted Mikey, trying to keep her attention away from Raph. Though it sort of worked, the Wild One started to regret his plan when Joroguma faced him with another roar. He laughed nervously, before giving a sheepish look and said, "Just kidding. You don't really have a butt face."

Just when Joroguma was about to devour her enemies, a rock hits her from above. She looked up to see…another Kintaro?

"Over here, Jora Kuma! Come get me!" he shouted while running off.

"What's this? There are two?!" she roared while looking back at the Kintaro trapped in her web and chased after the other one.

 _Another Kintaro?_ Dana thought, figuring out who that actually was. _But that would mean…_

And, right on cue, the Tanukis popped up and surrounded the group with knives. One of them was above Raph's head, with a pair of knives in his hands.

"It just got worse," Donnie murmured in fear.

The bat detective remained calm and looked at them with curiosity.

 _What did Usagi say about them? That they're magical creatures that could either do great harm…_

The Tanuki laughed, as he stabbed the cocoon. Raph screamed. Turns out, it ripped a hole that caused Raph's arm to pop out.

 _…Or help us._

"The Tanuki are…helping us?" asked Kintaro, whom couldn't believe any of this.

Dana lightly smiled in a pleased way, realizing that, after offering them food, the Tanuki are returning the favor by rescuing them.

The Tanuki soon noticed that the web was starting to break. Without warning, the Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana began to fall into the pit, screaming. Dana tried to open her wings and fly, but they were stuck together by all the webbing.

"Oh, come on!" Dana screamed to herself as she continued dropping.

Suddenly, one Tanuki grabbed on to each member of the group and lifted up a sheet that looked a bit like a parachute. This caused them to glide down safely.

"Woohoohoo!" cheered Donnie.

The team landed on a platform, one by one, with not so much grace. When Dana landed, she fell on top of Leo's shell. Embarrassed by her fall, the bat detective quickly got up with her face blushing madly red.

"Sorry, Leo," she said to him.

The Leader in Blue was not mad at her. He knew it was an accident and was secretly glad that she made a soft landing. Even if it was his own shell.

"Oh, snap! That was too close!" commented Mikey, before Kintaro landed on his shell in full speed.

Dana place two finger on her lips, mustering all her will-power to prevent a loud giggle from seeing that. She just remained a sweet smile to them.

From across, Usagi could see the same Tanuki group on another platform.

"Thank you for saving our lives, Tanuki," spoke the Ronin Rabbit as he bowed, "May the gods honor you."

 _Same here,_ Dana told them in her own mind while giving the creatures a thankful grin.

After thanking them, the Tanuki disappeared into a pile of leaves, one at a time.

* * *

Moments later, the group finally made camp outside the mountains. Raph, Mikey, Donnie, Dana, and Kintaro were inside a small cave with Leo and Usagi outside.

"You know, Pugtaro wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't such an entitled little jerk," commented Donnie.

"Yeah," yawned Raph, "The little loudmouth just needs discipline."

"I can hear you, turtle fools!" retorted Kintaro.

"Ah, whatever, Puggy," Raph told him while lying down. "Roll over and get some sleep."

As Dana was picking some of the webs out of her hair, she noticed that Kintaro was having a hard time falling asleep. Hating to see him like this, she turned her head and spoke, with a kind tone, "Would you like me to sing you a lullaby, Kintaro? I would more than happy to do that for you."

"I don't need your pity offering, Komori-Onna," retorted Kintaro.

Dana just nodded her head and looked away, knowing that she tried. The three turtles, whom were slightly awake, frowned while looking at each other.

For a little while, Kintaro thought back on when Dana was the only one whom kept by his side through this whole situation. He even remembered how she did her best in defending him from that evil Joroguma. It slightly made Kintaro rethink of her…but not too much, though.

"Uh…Then again, I suppose a song would be okay," replied Kintaro. "But just this once! I still think you're a no-good traitor," he reminded.

This got Raph, Donnie, and Mikey surprised. Dana, whom was very pleased on the inside, walked over to Kintaro, sat down next to him, and let him place his head on one of the travel bags like a pillow. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath before letting out a calm and colorful singing voice:

 _"Go to sleep, little darling,_

 _it's been a long, long day,_

 _close your eyes, rest your head,_

 _We will keep harm on you away"_

The holy child was surprised at how beautiful her singing was. Although the Turtles heard Dana's singing voice before, it still amazed them. Kintaro became so entranced, that he immediately fell fast asleep. After seeing him rest peacefully, Dana petted on his head, softly.

"Good night, Kintaro," she whispered. Dana knew that Kintaro wasn't completely terrible. She believed that he just needs the right people in his life to show him the way. When she looked up, Dana quietly giggled to herself to spot the other three turtles were fast asleep, like Kintaro; realizing that her lullaby made them go out like a light, as well. The bat detective silently stood up and moved to where Leo and Usagi were, without waking anyone up. She stayed on Leo's right side, standing. Usagi remained on his knees.

The trio watched the full moon covered in clouds, with the wind moving swiftly.

"Usagi, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you sooner. I was arrogant," apologized the Leader in Blue. "Thank you…for everything."

Dana couldn't help but smile at her turtle friend, glad that Leo finally saw the error of his ways.

 _That's my turtle,_ pondered the bat detective. Though joyful, there was still one more thing she needed to take care of.

"Usagi…Kintaro told me about the Komori-Onnas as actual creatures, during our travels through the forest. Along with me having the same weapon as one of them," she mildly replied, causing Leo to look at her and then Usagi. "What do you know about them and the Akuto-Komori?"

The Rabbit Ronin sighed, knowing Dana was going to ask this question. He sensed her and Leo sitting down on their knees, waiting for Usagi to answer.

"The Komori-Onnas were once an ancient race, long, long ago," he began. "They were female human bat hybrid warriors whom protected the forest, as their home, and sense if trespassers were good or not. They were often mistaken as dangerous Yokai by how they looked, and others thought of them as monsters that should be feared. But these ancient creatures proved their honor and compassion by saving a village from an army of evil Ronin samurai. From there, the Komori-Onnas were considered friendly creatures and protectors,"

Dana and Leo stayed silent, too intrigued to know that this reality had a tribe that was similar to the bat detective.

"There isn't much I know of the Komori-Onna leader sisters," continued the ronin, "... all I know is that Hasu Hanna was older than Akai Yanagi, and they were almost alike. The only way someone could tell them apart was for the birthmark in Yanagi's arm: a bat hanging upside down on a willow tree branch with its wings wide and opened."

Though astounded, Dana knew that there was a down fall to the legend.

"What happened to them?" she questioned, though afraid to know the real answer.

"…The youngest sister turned on her own tribe, one day, and destroyed the Komori-Onna race,"

This made the bat heroine cover her mouth with both hands, almost close to crying. Leo remained stunned. He couldn't believe that such an incredible tribe was extinct by one of their own.

"All but one: Hasu Hanna, the eldest sister. A battle between the two sisters became legendary. Nobody knew who won nor why Yanagi turned evil, but their story lived on. Soon, as time passed, we began calling the youngest sister Akuto-Komori,"

"Which means 'Rogue Bat' in Japanese," Leo spoke, understanding him.

"Is that why you were looking at me so weary the other night? You really thought I was this evil bat legend whom was going to turn on everyone or something like that?" questioned the bat detective, with a mix of inquisitiveness and hurt in her tone, plus her hands placed to her chest.

"Yes and no," answered Usagi, which got the two listeners confused. "Please forgive me, Dana-chan. The reason I was observing you the way I did was because you looked a little bit like someone else. There were incidents; rumors I kept hearing about from villagers involving a masked mercenary whom was taking lives at night. They said it was the Akuto-komori, causing trouble,"

 _I did recall Kintaro saying there were Komori sightings plus problems for the last couple of months,_ Dana contemplated.

"But those could be just rumors, Usagi. How does Dana fit into this?" reasoned plus questioned the Leader in Blue.

"I thought they were only rumors, too…until I saw and faced her, once,"

Leo and Dana gasped at this unexpected news.

"She carried a whip that could cut through anything. It was the very same one that belonged to Akai Yanagi, the Akuto-Komori. Knowing that the tribe was known for living up to more than a thousand years, I figured she somehow survived. Though she escaped, I could never forget those cold eyes of that demon, hiding underneath her red and black wolf mask," Usagi then turned his head toward Dana. "When I first saw and fought you, Dana-chan, I thought you were the very same Komori-Onna responsible for the attacks. But, as we began our journey and watched your actions, I knew that you were not her,"

This brought a small smile into the bat heroine. She became thankful to know that Usagi doesn't think she was a legendary rogue bat…anymore.

"Thank you, Usagi. That means a lot,"

The Rabbit Ronin only gave her a small nod.

"Usagi, let me take the first watch," offered Leo. "You did a lot for us today. Get some sleep."

"Thank you, Leonardo-san," the Ronin Rabbit told him while standing up. He looked at Dana, with a small smirk. "And thank you, Dana-chan, for looking after the boy."

Dana and Leo watched him go inside the cave, sat down, and sleep with the others. The two teens continued watching the stars, not letting this moment go. They stayed silent for a few minutes.

Leo took a small glance at the bat detective. The Leader in Blue saw how the moonlight made her face glow, the cool breeze lightly moving her hair, and the stars reflecting upon the bat heroine's eyes. He truly did liked Dana as more than just a friend, but didn't know how to tell her directly. He was afraid that she might not feel the same way. The last thing Leo would want was to ruin their friendship. But, still, how he wished to find the right moment to admit his feelings to a girl like Dana.

"Hey, Dana?" he asked, watching the minor mutant bat face him.

"Yeah?" replied the bat heroine.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you. Why did you remain so nice Kintaro, even though he was being mean to you?"

A small smile came across Dana's face on that question. "That's easy. Kintaro is a child whose been spoiled his entire life. He doesn't seem to know any discipline or empathy. I thought maybe, if I proved to him that I'm not some horrible being, he would learn not to judge me by how I look nor what other people say when it's not entirely true. Try to show him the real me,"

"So he could see what a thoughtful person you are," observed Leo, with Dana nodding her head from what he said.

"I can already tell that Usagi has a lot of patience on him. Most unexperienced watchers would already lose it when watching over someone that is very…misbehaved. But Usagi is a noble warrior. I figured, while we reach the temple, Kintaro could experience some important lessons from such a wise Ronin. Maybe from us, as well. The least I could do for Usagi was to make sure nothing bad happens to him along the way,"

"And I'm proud of you for staying and protecting Kintaro the way you did," Leo told her, causing Dana to lightly blush in a bashful way. "I still can't believe there's a legend about a tribe that looks like you in this dimension. Pretty interesting, huh?"

"Actually, I kind of find it a bit odd,"

"Really? Why?" questioned the Leader in Blue.

"I mean, they were these Amazonian-like warriors whom protected their home plus people. Then, for no reason, one becomes bad and destroyed her own kind? Something about this story smells fishy,"

"There's also that masked mercenary Usagi met," added Leo. "He mentioned how ruthless she was on innocent people and causing trouble,"

"Exactly. This may sound insane, but I just can't help but think all of these things are connected to Jei, somehow. His name has been heard across the land multiple times. We know that he summoned us here to do his dirty work. But we still don't know why. Why summon all five of us? Why does he want Kintaro so badly? It just doesn't make any sense!"

The bat detective placed her hands on her face, too frustrated on not solving this complicated mystery. The Leader in Blue hated to see Dana upset on situations like this. He put his hand on her back, sort of like the same gesture Dana always does for him.

"Dana, whatever the reason, we'll figure it out together. If you think Jei is connected to the Komori-Onnas and this rogue masked maniac, then I believe you. But, in order to solve this, we need to keep going forward in the present,"

The bat heroine looked at Leo, grinned, and said, "Thanks, Leo,"

"No problem. Now, get some rest. We got a long trip ahead of us."

Dana nodded her head, stood up, and went inside the cave to get some shut eye.

"Good night, Leo," she told him before going to bed.

Though he had his back facing her, Leo replied back to the bat detective, "Good night, Dana."

Before closing her eyes and falling asleep, Dana thought how lucky she was to have Leo in her life. Without him, she probably never would have become the confident girl she is now. In fact, Dana never would have become Dracana if he and his brothers didn't convince her in training with them. They were like this crazy family she only sees in television shows, but real.

 _What would I do without him?_ Dana thought, smiling in her sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a certain anthropomorphic wolf's lair in the mountains, a mysterious figure in a hooded cloak walks in to see Jei staring at the full moon. He had his spear in position and stoned-like bowl in front of him. When he sensed the presence of this being, Jei remained calm.

"I trust you bring me good news," assumed the evil wolf, not turning around.

"Obviously," scoffed the figure, hands on hips. "Everything is exactly according to plan. The lame turtles, their miserable samurai friend, and annoying bat goodie-goodie just got past the haunted forest, faced plus escaped a spider woman demon, and now made camp."

"And the young boy?" he continued questioning.

"Still bratty as usual. But Little Miss Two-Fangs seems to be making some progress on him a little bit by being so nice and caring," the figure said that last part in a 'making-fun-of' tone. Just the mention of it wanted to make this mysterious hood hurl.

"Good. I want these warriors continuing what they know for the child,"

"Whatever. As long as I get what I want in this plan of yours, I'm happy," admitted the hooded figure, now with arms crossed.

"Patience, my pupil, you will. But first," Jei turned around with an evil smirk on his face, "We must show them the true meaning of fear."

This got the figure to smile mischievously. "Now you're speaking my language," replied the figure, before placing a wolf mask back on. "Let's do this."

* * *

Moments later, the campfire was finally out. The rest of the group remained asleep in their campsite. Leo was starting to feel tired, too. Just then, he saw something appear in front of him from a distance.

"What?" exclaimed the Leader in Blue. He witnessed a familiar silhouette that turned around to reveal himself as Jei! "Usagi, wake up! Get up, Kintaro, now! Guys, Dana, wake up!" he said while facing the others.

"What is it?" Raph asked, waking up first.

"It's Jei! He's–"

When Leo's brothers awoke with their weapons up and joined him, Jei was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, they heard an evil laugh above their heads. Gasping, Leo looked up to see Jei launching an air attack. The Turtle team moved away just in time. The Wicked Wolf ended up stabbing the ground with his spear, in the process, before lifting it up, spinning, and pointing it at his enemies.

"I got him!" called Mikey, whom charged towards Jei. He fought him with Hot Nunchuck Fury moves, only to get knocked back. Before he could keep fighting, Mikey was stabbed in the plastron; causing the three Turtles to watch in horror.

"Mikey!" shouted Raph.

The youngest brother fell off the cliff, with the help of Jei giving him a small push. Mad, Raph rushed in to stop Jei while screaming. Unfortunately, Jei blew purple fire from his mouth, similar to how a dragon does it, and blasted Raph off the mountain.

"No," murmured the Leader in Blue, not believing that two of his brother had fallen.

Jei gets between him and Donnie, whacking them both with his spear. The Smart One brought out his naginata and tried to charge at the wolf murderer. But Jei stopped and moved Donnie, telepathically, using one hand.

"You cannot fathom the power of Jei," said the Wicked Wolf.

He then clenched his claws together, resulting Donnie to get crushed on the inside until he dropped his weapon and was dropped down with the others.

Leo, whom was the only Turtle left standing, got up to find his brothers gone.

"No, no. NO!" he screamed, causing an echo through the mountain. Leo held on to Mikey, while crying. As he continued to sob in his brother's chest, it began to rain.

"I can sense the evil inside of you, Leonardo," replied Jei, as he watched Leo lift his head in anger from behind, "And I will purge it!"

The Leader in Blue slowly stood up, pulling out his katana. He turned to Jei, whom only laughed. Leo gripped his sword in anger and yelled while lunging towards the one who destroyed his brothers.

A major fight broke down between them.

While that was happening, the bat heroine, whom was still in the cave, slowly woke up before letting out a long yawn. After rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes, she noticed that her friends plus allies were not around. Letting curiosity get the best of her, Dana got up and checked outside; ignoring the fact that it was raining and didn't pick up nor put on her kasa hat.

 _That's weird. Where is everyone? I know they couldn't have left without me,_ alleged the bat detective.

She kept looking around until she spotted something below her. Being the curious one, Dana stretched out her wings and flew down.

Once she made contact on land, the bat detective saw three lifeless figures lying down. Her eyes grew wide in dismay when realizing that they were Raph, Donnie and Mikey!

"Oh, my bat, guys!" cried Dana, whom had her mouth covered in disbelief.

The bat detective could not believe what she was seeing. Her closest friends, her family, were gone.

 _No! Keep it together, Dana! Let's not jump to conclusions just yet,_ pondered the bat heroine, trying to stay positive. _Maybe they're not dead. They're probably just knocked out. Yeah, that's got to be it!_

She went down and checked for any pulse in them, not losing hope. Sadly, to her disappointment, Dana couldn't feel one in all three. This discovery made the young minor mutant broke into tears with her head down, not bothered by how soaked she was on the pouring rain.

"No… This can't be happening! I…I lost my friends," sobbed Dana. She didn't need help to figure out who did this horrible deed. The spear mark on the deceased Wild One was proof enough. "Why would Jei do this? Why now?"

While continuing her uncontrollable waterworks, she soon perceived that there was one turtle missing. The sound of metal clashing into one another caught her bat ears' attention. Dana looked up to see Leo fighting against Jei from a far. Refusing to lose another friend-not to mention see the turtle she loved the most die-she got up and tried to help him.

"Hang on, Leo, I'm coming!" she shouted.

The heroine bat ran as fast as she could to rescue the Leader in Blue from this heartless wolf monster. She had her hand reaching out to him with her right arm and got her whip with the left.

Just before she could reach into the battlefield, a loud _thwip_ caused her to stop, around the same time lightning struck. Dana felt something hit her from behind. It was like three strikes in one whack. Though she didn't see what it was nor who did it, the bat heroine knew that it hurt. So much, that the second it happened, she let out an agonizing scream.

This got Leo's attention, while dealing with Jei. He watched in fright, seeing another member of his team perish before him. And it was the girl he had always looked after and admired.

"DANA! NOOOO!" was all Leo could say.

He saw the fear in Dana's teary eyes, before she fell to her knees and collapsed sideways. Behind the fallen heroine was her attacker.

It was a female warrior in a dark gray cloak. Her hair and clothes were yet to be revealed. But she did wear a red and black samurai wolf mask, along with having a pair of red colored eyes. On her hand was a special three-tailed dark red whip. It had a cross-guard in the form of a mahogany four-sided flower. The lash was dark gray and is divided into three different segments with spiked balls on the ends. Multiple shards of garnet are embedded on the main lash, which inflict additional damage and further restrain the target. Her whip had a red garnet as the pommel and the handle itself was dark gray.

The Masked Mercenary disappeared in a flash of lightning, seeing that her work here was done.

"The Komori-Onna's fate has been sealed," Jei said, while laughing. "Just like you and your brothers."

Leo, whom was now full of rage than ever before, took out his second katana and kept battling Jei with everything he's got. He wanted to avenge not only his brothers, but also avenge Dana. There was no way that Leo was going to let Jei get away with any of this. Their weapons collided with each other's.

"You're weakened, Turtle, and I grow stronger,"

Jei pushed Leo back, causing the Eldest Turtle to defend himself as best as he could. It wasn't long before Jei spinned his spear fast enough to the ground and sprayed Leo with dirt, making him fall near Donnie. Leo looked at his fallen brother for a few seconds and then turned his head to the Wicked Wolf.

"You are just a child. What threat do you pose Jei? None," he told the fallen Leader in Blue, ready to finish him off.

Knowing that this was it, Leo covered his eyes and prepared himself for the final blow.

"Leo, wake up!" said a certain Hothead's voice.

He felt someone grabbed his eye covering arm gently. Leo looked up to see his brothers and Dana, whom were actually alive and well. Along with Usagi and Kintaro. They were all concerned about him…except Kintaro.

"Raph…? It was a…dream?" questioned Leo.

"No kidding, turtle dummy," countered Kintaro.

"You were controlled by Jei's magic," explained Usagi.

"We all had the same dream," explicated Donnie, "And when he destroyed us, we woke up."

"But why? Why's he messing with us like that?" asked Mikey, "Not Coolio."

* * *

Back at Jei's mountain top lair, he and the Masked Mercenary watched plus listened to the whole thing from the stoned-like bowl full of water in front of them.

"Yes. You are nothing but puppets. The pawns of the gods," replied Jei.

"And play toys for me," added the mysterious figure, whom roguishly chuckled. She enjoyed every moment of that event, seeing her enemies in terror. "Especially you, Dracana. I'll be waiting for your arrival, and finish you off personally. Once and for all."

The two villains let out an evil laugh.

* * *

Back with the group, Leo kept looking at everyone until he stopped at Dana. Even though he was glad that she was not completely destroyed, he became concerned when seeing the fear in her eyes. It was like that nightmare scarred the bat detective for life. She kept rubbing her arms, anxiously, still trembling softly. Those two were the only ones whom saw that Dana was not attacked by Jei in the same dream, but by what looked like the same enemy Usagi mentioned earlier.

 _Who was that female warrior? And why was Dana destroyed by her, instead of Jei?_ deliberated the Leader in Blue, as he got up in a dazed way.

"Be wary, Turtle Ninja and Bat Warrior," warned the Rabbit Ronin, whom was leaving with others, except Leo. "We approach the Mother of Mountains. We are not out of danger yet."

Reluctantly, Leo followed the group that was heading towards the mountains. Whoever or whatever they were about to face, the Turtle team must be ready for anything. Even if the truth behind this mystery will be an earthquake…

 ** _To be continued…_**

* * *

 **Okay, I know you guys are already wondering the same thing. Who was that warrior that's helping Jei? Is she another victim/pawn of the Wicked Wolf? Or is she the legendary Akuto-Komori everyone in Usagi's world kept talking about? You just have to wait for the third and final part to find out.**

 **Again, special thanks to Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8. Couldn't have made this story without the help of my Best Fan Fiction Friends.**

 **The Mysterious Masked warrior's weapon is based on Amethyst's weapon from 'Steven Universe'. It was HK's idea, which I approved. Even though I've never watched the show. I had to make it a little different to match this villain's personality.**

 **Oh, and the lullaby Dana sang to Kintaro was something I got from a show I recently watched plus liked: "Welcome to the Wayne". It's from episode 5 'Some Kind of Tap-Dancing, Beekeeping Whaler'…Yeah, I cannot make up the name of this episode even if I wanted to. In fact, all of the episode titles are as weird as this one. You just got to see them to understand why they're called that. Anyway, I used the lullaby from that episode, only a little different because I changed the last part of the lyrics so it could rhyme plus make sense. Again, you have to see the show to understand.**

 **Well, that's all for now. Hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **TMNT Fan Forever!**


	3. Kagayakei! Kintaro (TMNT Fan Fic)

**Hey, my TMNT Fan Readers! Sorry for taking so long on making this. Summer's over, schools back on, I think you already know the delay.**

 **As I said in my previous two chapters, huge thanks to four fan fiction friends whom have helped me make this story happen: Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8. Especially HK, BabyPink, and DG. BabyPink and DG helped me work on a new bat Yokai legend that all of you will be reading about in this three-part story, along with some other things. And HK has helped by not only ideas, but also checker on the storyline being accurate and all that.**

 **Oh, and I forgot to mention what the names of the two Komori-Onna Sisters mean in the other chapter. Hasu Hanna is Japanese for 'Lotus Flower' and Akai Yanagi is Japanese for 'Red Willow'.**

 **Speaking of the Komori-Onnas, I know you've all been probably wondering if I'll ever tell you who this mysterious partner that's helping Jei and if she's good or evil. Rest assured, you'll have all your questions answered in this final part of the Samurai Saga.**

 **There are drawings I made in the Wattpad app by phones called "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. Some images are based on/used for this story, as well. And possibly some future drawings of characters you will know in this third part of the Samurai Saga. I actually made them, already. But, I think I'll wait a little longer to post them. Maybe a week. You know, so you won't look at the drawings first and then the story. That would be spoiling the surprise. Right now, in case you do want to check out the drawings that are still available, look at chapters 11, 23, and 25.**

 **I don't own anything, except my characters. Most particular at the moment, my OC, Dana. Whom is one of many characters created by me plus owned…Plus, a few more you might see. But I'm not saying anything else until the very end. I do not own anything else.**

 **Also…there might be a teeny, tiny view of a special guest that I kind of agreed to use. He belongs to Lewamus Prime 2017. LP has been asking me to add his character in the story and, after getting more details plus discussing some ideas, I finally found a small cameo spot for him. Don't worry, you'll know more about this guy in the next chapter. It will take place after the Samurai Saga but before the Monster Arc. Plus, this will probably count as an original short story. That is, if I find the time to do it and organize my schedule on both real life and the storyline.**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here is the next story. Along with a recap to get people up to speed. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Previously on Tales of the TMNT: Osoroshi no Tabi**

 _~The Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana survived the fall off the cliff, during a horse chase scene. But a certain Leader in Blue began questioning the Ronin Rabbit's leadership~_

"What were you thinking leading us off a cliff, Usagi?!" demanded Leo.

"It wasn't as if I wanted us to plunge over a cliff!" argued Usagi, "And if we would've stayed, we would surely have been slain!"

"Ha! We could've taken those guys! I should've been leading us!" Leo replied before walking past Usagi in anger.

 _~Along the way, the Turtle team had go through the forest of the Tangled Skym, where the place was haunted by strange forces and powerful Yokai tricksters~_

"It is Tanuki. Ba Keh Tanuki," Usagi clarified. "Magical tricksters that can either help or cause great harm."

Dana heard him from a distance. She didn't know whether to be fascinated or bothered by these so-called 'Tanuki' beings.

"You better not be leading us into more danger, Usagi!" warned Leo, making Dana worry once more.

 _Now is not the time for who should be the better leader, Leonardo,_ Dana thought to herself, considering she doesn't want to be mean at her favorite turtle. Or anyone, for that matter.

"Uh…Hey, wait a second…why do we have _two_ Raphaels?" questioned the Smart One.

Everyone stopped to notice that Donnie was right. There were literally two Raphs! The sight of this caused the Turtle team to stare in a completely baffled way. Even Dana, whom now noticed the doubled Raphs, had her eyes wider than before and mouth hanging in shock.

"What?" the second Raph replied.

"What? A second Raphael?" the first Raph responded.

"Oh, my bat, not again," mumbled Dana, with a distressed look on her face.

 _~Not to mention face an evil spider demon called Joroguma~_

Leo continued his rescue mission. He kept moving until he was right in front of the cat woman.

"Please, free me," pleaded the so-called 'Akemi'. Leo cutted her free with a small tanto blade and caught her when she collapsed into his arms.

"It's okay now. We'll help you," he told her.

Suddenly, her arms turned into large spider claws. She transformed into a spider woman, with Leo captured in her reach.

"Yes. Help me, ninja," laughed the Spider Lady, evilly. "Help me!"

She let out a roar, causing Leo to scream.

"Away, fiend!" Usagi shouted while jumping down and slashed his sword on her, with Dana flying down by his side. This caused her to let go of Leo. Once she temporarily retreated, Leo sighed in relief while getting up.

 _~In the end, the group survived and made camp. Leonardo learned from his mistakes, apologized, and thanked Usagi. He and Dana even got to learn about a legendary tribe called the Komori-Onnas and Akuto-Komori from Usagi~_

"They were female human bat hybrid warriors whom protected the forest, as their home, and sense if trespassers were good or not," explained Usagi.

… "What happened to them?" she questioned, though afraid to know the real answer.

"…The youngest sister, Akai Yanagi, turned on her own tribe, one day, and destroyed the Komori-Onna race,"

This made the bat heroine cover her mouth with both hands, almost close to crying. Leo remained stunned. He couldn't believe that such an incredible tribe was extinct by one of their own.

 _~Then Jei successfully scared the Turtles by destroying them in a dream. He left Leonardo as the last one to witness the true meaning of terror. As for Dana, she was annihilated and dealt with a different kind of fear by someone else~_

"Hang on, Leo, I'm coming!" she shouted.

The heroine bat ran as fast as she could to rescue the Leader in Blue from this heartless wolf monster. She her hand out with her right arm and got her whip with the left.

Just before she could reach into the battlefield, a loud _thwip_ caused her to stop, around the same time lightning struck. Dana felt something hit her from behind. It was like three strikes in one whack. Though she didn't see what it was nor who did it, the bat heroine knew that it hurt. So much, that the second it happened, she let out an agonizing scream.

This got Leo's attention, while dealing with Jei. He watched in fright, seeing another member of his team perish before him. And it was the girl he had always looked after and admired.

"DANA! NOOOO!" was all Leo could say.

He saw the fear in Dana's teary eyes, before she fell to her knees and collapsed sideways. Her attacker revealed to be a female warrior in a dark gray cloak and red plus black wolf mask.

 _~What danger lies ahead of the Turtles and Dana? Who is this new threat by Jei's side? Will this be their final battle? The epic conclusion of this Samurai Saga will tell all~_

* * *

 **Tales of the TMNT: Kagayakei! Kintaro (Translation: Shine, Kintaro!)**

 _Few months back, in Usagi's home world, a cloudy storm was brewing one afternoon, near the mountains. Multiple lightning bolts and thunder noises were seen plus heard._

 _Jei, whom just came back from destroying another victim for the gods, was roaming around back to his lair._

 _Suddenly, from the gloomy sky, a weird purple gateway formed and a female figure dropped from it. This caught Jei's attention. He decided to investigate by moving to where the figure landed; which was the top of the mountain. After the figure screamed and fell, she looked up, in anger, as the portal she just came from disappeared before her very own eyes. All the mysterious figure could do was growl, while picking herself up._

 _"You coward!" she shouted with antagonism in her tone, shaking plus raising her fist in the air, and facing the sky, "I'm not done with you and your pathetic friends, yet, Little Miss Two-Fangs! Mark my words, I will find a way to destroy you myself, even if I have to wait for you to get stuck in this miserable prison world, somehow!"_

 _Still feeling upset about her defeat, the female figure let out her anger by punching part of the mountain; which left a mark on it. She, then, placed her forehead on the wall-like mountain she punched and groaned._

 _"What am I saying? I'll never get my revenge," the figure disappointing told herself out loud, eyes closed while lightly punching the mountain, again, with her other hand. "It's impossible."_

 _Little did she knew, someone was listening._

 _"You should not doubt yourself, Komori-Onna," spoke a voice from behind._

 _"Huh?" The figure turned around to spot a certain anthropomorphic wolf wearing a black kimono plus have white eyes. Although she had no clue whom he was, the mysterious figure did like the unique blade he was carrying with him. It seemed kind of wicked, in her personal opinion. "Who are you supposed to be?" questioned the female figure, not sure if she should bother knowing._

 _"I am Jei, the Blade of the Gods," he answered. "And it would seem that the gods have brought you here to my path."_

 _"Great. Just what I need during my imprisonment," said a sarcastic figure, whom crossed her arms. "A complete lunatic canine man. This day keeps getting better and better."_

 _"You look so much like the ancient Komori-Onna race," Jei spoke, taking a good look at the figure. "I can sense so much strength in you, for someone so nearly young. What kind of creature are you?"_

 _"The one who doesn't want to be in this conversation any longer," sassed the mysterious being. "Look, I just got my wings handed to some enemies I know, and the last thing I need right now is some wolf nutcase driving me crazy. So, why don't you just go back with your delusional god thing and leave me alone?!" she yelled, before walking away._

 _Jei stayed neutral and said, "I can help you seek revenge on those who wronged you."_

 _This got the figure to stop. Though she kept her back on him, Jei knew that she was listening. He was fully aware that all this mysterious figure desired was vengeance on her enemies._

 _"All I ask in return are a few tasks for something I am planning in the future. If you agree, I will train you to become more skilled than ever so you will be able to defeat your foes. Even require this weapon that belonged to a legendary warrior I once knew," he continued persuading while taking out something from under his kimono rob sleeve._

 _The female figure finally turned around to see what Jei was holding with one hand, since he had the other holding the spear. It was a dark blackish red whip with garnet gems on the main lash, wrapped together. Though beautiful, this didn't seem to interest the figure._

 _"What makes that thing so special?" questioned the mystery girl, debating whether to leave or not._

 _Jei brought the new weapon down to reveal it had three tails, instead of one. He swung it around until the whip wrapped around a nearby stone that was the size of an actual human being, ripped it off the ground with one yank, and swung it up into the air. But he wasn't done, yet. When the rock was about to fall on top of him, Jei destroyed the stone into a million pieces with the same whip that changed from a regular three-tail into a three-spiked balled kind._

 _The figure just stared in aghast, too blown away by the demonstration. Never before had she ever seen a whip that could do all of that. Jei didn't need to be a mind reader to tell that he already got this mysterious stranger's full attention._

 _"Whoa…" she finally spoke._

 _This caused Jei to chuckle while smiling, evilly, to reveal his menacing teeth._

 _"That was just one of many tricks you could use with it," explained the wicked wolf, retracting the weapon back to its original state, "There are some that can create damage on things and others that can destroy opponents. Become my disciple, and I will teach them all to you. So you can finally get what you want," he, then, moved forward to the figure and presented the whip to her, "Now… do we have a deal?"_

 _The female figure looked at the weapon before turning her gaze at Jei. A sinister smirk formed in her face before answering._

 _"You had me at 'destroying my enemies'. I'm in,"_

 _She reached out her right hand and grabbed the whip. Once that happened, the figure bowed to Jei, as if he was her sensei._

 _And, so, it was the start of a new danger. One that this dimension was not prepared for._

* * *

Now, back to the present, it was snowing. The Turtles, Dana, and Usagi were traveling up the mountains while wearing their jingasa hats plus old-fashioned winter coats made of hemp/straw. Dana still kept on her Japanese clothes underneath her coat. Kintaro remained with what he was wearing, and just complained the whole time. He was loud enough to create an echo across the mountains.

"Why isn't anyone carrying me? Someone should be carrying me!" growled Kintaro, in irritation. "I'm cold! And I'm tired! And I'm hungry! Ugh!"

Usagi closed his eyes, nearly close to losing his patience. While they kept moving, Kintaro kept on criticizing.

"This is unacceptable! I hate walking! Long-Eared, either carry me or build me a carriage. I demand it!"

The holy child was slowly trying to climb up. Although this would be the part with Dana trying to help him, Usagi stopped her and signaled her to continue with the others; as if saying 'Don't worry. I got this.'. Nodding, Dana did what he said.

"You will never find your center by being self-centered, Kintaro-sama," warned Usagi, while helping the holy child. "Do not expect your true power to come from being boastful brat."

"You don't tell me what to do. I tell you. Now, use your long ears when I say, 'Be silent!'. One day, I'll be strong enough to lift an entire mountain!"

"We could use that right now," spoke Raph, whom got Usagi and Kintaro's attention to notice a huge boulder blocking their path. "Looks like there was a landslide."

"Really wish I had my long lasso with me. One whack, and this stone would be crumbled into tiny rocks to finish the job," replied Dana.

"It's gonna have to move," Donnie said, thinking what to do before turning to Kintaro. "Well, here's your chance, small fry. Let's see you move the 'mountain'."

"Ha! Stand aside, peasants," Kintaro told, before throwing his axe aside and walking towards the big rock.

The Turtles and Dana watched from behind. Raph and Donnie had an amused smirk on their faces. Leo, Mikey, and Dana remained neutral. Of course, the bat heroine was wondering whether Kintaro seemed up to the task. She was hoping yes, but her intuition told her otherwise.

The holy child pressed his hands against the rock, eyes closed. He tried to push it off, gruntingly, only to do zero results.

"Did you see it move? Cause I sure didn't," Raph said sarcastically and let out a laugh.

Mikey bent down for an up-close study on the young pug while Dana watched repentantly. She believed that Kintaro will do great things, someday. Just not at the moment.

"My paws are cold," grunted Kintaro, whom was still trying to push the rock out. "I can't get a…good grip!"

A few seconds later, Kintaro fell on the ground during his attempts. The Hothead continued to laugh at this.

"Hey, what happened to your 'great strength', Golden Boy?" he questioned, using air-quotes.

"Your foul stench poisoned me!" growled Kintaro, after getting up.

"Hey, lighten up, Raph. The kid tried," reasoned Leo. "That's something."

"Leo's right," the bat heroine replied to Raph, keeping a sensible tone. "The important thing is that Kintaro did his best. 'A' for effort. There's got to be another way."

Just then, Usagi moved forward and passed the Turtle team. He gently lifted up Kintaro's head so the young one could see what the Ronin was about to do. He stepped up to the rock, scanned it, and noticed a tree keeping it stable. With a quick slash from his katana blade, Usagi cut the tree down. When that happened, the boulder fell off the cliff and was free from their path. Raph, Mikey, Donnie, and Kintaro were shocked at the Rabbit Ronin's smarts on taking care of the problem. Leo and Dana just smiled in a very impressed way.

Once he unsheathed his blade, Usagi turned to Kintaro and said, "Sometimes, strength is not enough."

Usagi and Kintaro both shared a smile at each other, causing the bat heroine to notice.

 _Looks like the young student is starting to learn from the wise master,_ she thought to herself, pleasantly.

As the group began to keep moving, Leo stopped and turned his eyes to a cave above him. He had this weird feeling that someone was watching him and the others. Shaking it off, the Leader in Blue left to catch up with his team.

Turns out, his instincts weren't wrong.

In that cave, it revealed a pair of teal glowing eyes. Evil was not far behind…

* * *

Moments later, the Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana were trekking through the snowy top. While moving, Raph was slowing down and stopped to catch his breath. Apparently, he felt like something was dragging the weight on him to climb up. It didn't take Raph long to notice some rope tied around his waist and found Mikey at the end of it, letting his hotheaded brother do all the work so he could relax. Raph, clearly, was not satisfied, and showed it by swinging Mikey around in the air with the same rope, as if he were a rag doll. Leo, Donnie, and Dana had to stop him from tossing the Wild One off the hill.

They continued going up, using rope to hold on to so they won't get blown away by the harsh winds pushing them. The Turtle team's shoes were covered in snow. Even Dana's feet were soaked plus cold enough to lose some toes.

They soon stopped to see a wooden arrow and a small stone, both signs in Japanese. The wooden sign said 'Straight Ahead' while the stoned signed read 'Sky Buddha Temple'. The Smart One was the first to walk on an icy pond, only to get his whole body stuck in there. Instead of helping, Mikey just jumped on top of his head; which caused Donnie to sink further. Slightly facepalming while letting out a soft groan and shaking her head, Dana-along with some help from Raph-assisted Donnie to get out of the pond before moving on.

As the team kept going up the Mother of Mountains, Dana kept herself silent the entire trip. Even though she was still looking after Kintaro from a safe distance with Usagi by his side, the bat heroine had a lot of things in her mind. Ones involving the nightmare on being ended by a certain masked female and others dealing with the cold temperatures. And that last bit always brought Dana some bad experiences from the past.

Even though she only got a blurred sight on her attacker, Leo managed to give her some details on her mysterious appearance while going up the Mother of Mountains. But it still, however, didn't seem to shake off the fact that this masked mercenary could be dangerous. Maybe as dangerous as Jei.

 _None of this adds up. Who was that from last night? Why annihilate me in the back and not in the front? Whatever she hit me with, my healing abilities had no effect and couldn't save me in time. Which means it must probably be a magical weapon of some kind to prevent beings like myself to recover… theoretically. But how does Jei connect to_ _–_ _?_

The bat detective was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice where she was stepping. Once her foot made contact to some ice on her path, Dana yelped while falling backwards. Her eyes were closed, as she prepared herself for the harsh blow when hitting the ground. Instead, she felt a pair of arms breaking her fall. Dana slowly opened her eyes, only to spot a familiar pair of sapphire colored eyes.

"Ice is slippery, if you're not careful," Leo told her, flashing one of his daring, hero smirks that made Dana blush redder than Raph's mask. And it wasn't from how cold it was.

"Th-th-thanks, Leo," flustered the heroine bat, after picking herself back from the Leader in Blue's strong arms. "I, uh, appreciated the help."

Once their few seconds of awkward silence was done, Dana continued following the Ronin Rabbit and Kintaro. But not before lowering her hat to cover the huge tints of red forming all over her face.

 _Did the mountains here just got a little warmer all of a sudden? Because I'm starting to feel less cold than before,_ pondered the embarrassed bat detective. She didn't even notice some steam coming out of her face; due to slight nervous sweating.

Although he was happy to save the girl he liked, Leo knew that something was wrong. He has known Dana long enough to know whenever she gets distracted in a kluzty way, it means she's thinking about things that were troubling her. And he identified it had something to do with last night's bizarre dream.

If only he knew how to help the bat heroine out on this one.

"We have reached the top," informed Usagi, with the rest of the Turtle team panting in overtiredness. "The high pass of the Haha Naru Yamu."

"We made it, team," sighed in relief Leo.

"At least the hard part is over," spoke Kintaro, whom wiped some sweat off his head.

"No. The hard part is before us," corrected Usagi, directing his attention below. Everyone followed the Ronin's gaze to see a giant, cloudy pit. "The Sino Hinedae, the Descent of a Thousand Screams."

"Whoa. That is a loooong way down," spoke Mikey.

"We're so high, you can see the top of those clouds," Leo spoke in shock.

"I hate to be the one to fall down there," replied Dana.

"Why? Don't you have bat wings? You can fly," responded Raph.

"In case you forgot, my wings can't handle cold conditions and might not be strong enough to face the winds, while going up and or down," answered the bat heroine crossing her arms.

"Chillax, dude and dudette, it can't be that bad. I'll find out how far down it is," Mikey said, rubbing where his invisible nose is before spitting. The sight of that made Dana cringe her face in repulsion, thinking how gross and immature it was.

 _Okay, that's just nasty,_ she thought to herself.

When it fell down, the spit came back up and smacked Raph in the face. That made the Hothead groan in disgust, the Wild One laugh, and the Bat Heroine cover her eyes in a facepalmed way while lowering her head.

"Oh, brother," Dana muttered.

Completely mad, Raph tackled Mikey, causing them to land at the edge. Fortunately, they were pulled back by Donnie.

"Hey, do you two wanna fall?" the Smart One questioned the paralyzed turtle brothers.

"Um, let's not do that when we're nearly close to our ticket home," pointed out Dana.

"Quit messing around! Come on, Usagi's getting ahead," Leo told his brothers before facing the bat detective. "Dana, you stay in front of me while we keep moving."

The heroine bat just nodded and followed the Leader in Blue's order, without hesitation.

* * *

Soon, the Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana were now moving across through a narrow path. Usagi was in the lead, Kintaro was dragging his axe while following him, Dana remained between the Golden Boy and Leo, and the others were behind them, slowly.

As he continued, showing a nervous look, Mikey suddenly spotted someone from a far distance.

"Hey…Whoa!" Mikey took a closer look to see a familiar Wicked Wolf. Gasping, he shook Donnie; which nearly got his smart brother to fall off. "Donnie, Donnie, look! It's him, Jei! He's out there!" he exclaimed while pointing at the source.

Turns out, there was not a single living soul out there.

"I don't see anybody, Mikey. You got to relax," answered Donnie.

"He was out there, Raph. I'm telling ya, bro! He. Was. Out there!" asserted Mikey, seeing Raph checking, too.

"No, I think you're letting this place get to you. There's no one–" started Raph, only to saw the cloud form into Jei. This got his eyes wide open. "Out…there… Dang it, Mikey. You got me hallucinating now!" he finally said, while punching Mikey's arm numerous times with his fists.

"No, dude, the huge Jei in the clouds just now? I saw it, too," exclaimed the Wild One, gulping at the end.

Suddenly, the bat heroine heard a female chuckle coming from the sky. As she looked up, Dana's eyes grew wide in terror. Instead of Jei, she saw her attacker's masked face in giant cloud form! The sight of it made the poor bat heroine's heart beat faster than Alopex, pant heavily, and brought horrible flashbacks that made her touch her own back; where that hard blow struck. It gave her chills...and not from the temperature of climbing the mountain.

 _No…Oh, please, no!_ she thought-shrieked, too paralyzed to move.

"Dana? Dana, snap out it!" a certain blue masked called out while lightly shaking Dana's shoulder. This got her to shake her head and look into Leo's eyes; which got her to relax a little.

"Is everything all right, Dana-chan?" questioned Usagi, turning his head to make sure the Komori-Onna or anyone else was not hurt.

"I'm fine, Usagi," answered Dana, whom remained calm yet still frightened on the inside. "Just trying to keep myself warm from these conditions."

That was half true. Not many people know this, but the bat detective was not a fan of this kind of temperature. She doesn't hate everything cold, like Ice-Cream Kitty and Winter. It's just that every time she or the Turtles get into trouble involving coldness, someone gets close to losing their life.

The first one was with Leo on the day the Kraang succeeded in taking over New York on Winter. He was badly hurt from Shredder plus his forces. It was a burden Dana could never forget because she blamed herself for not being there for him when he needed help. Even stopped training all together, shutting everyone out around Leo's recuperation that took three months.

The second time was nearly herself and the Turtle team when getting stuck on that icy moon, during their space mission to save the Earth from getting destroyed by the Triceratons…again. Although Fugitoid saved them in time by fixing the ship, it was still something Dana couldn't shake off.

The third and final time, before the blackhole incident, happened when Dana was trapped in a room called 'The Frozen Heart' where the walls were filled with air conditioners, releasing cold breezes that made the room feel like one was in Antarctica. A trap invented by her evil clone, whom was the very same one that stole her identity plus created by Baxter Stockman to do Shredder's dirty work. Dana nearly died from hypothermia, if it weren't for the Turtles that escaped from their own traps in time and saved her by placing the bat heroine in Raph's 'Hothead' trap to revive her.

Bottom line, Dana plus coldness usually results to anyone she cared about get killed. It was like a curse that will never go away.

But Leo wasn't misled. He can already tell that she was being manipulated by horrible visions just to frighten her, along with his brothers.

"What we're seeing doesn't matter. Jei might be messing with our heads, somehow, but he doesn't control us anymore," Leo assured his brothers and friend, whom was behind him. He, then, faced the bat detective and said, in a lowered tone, "Don't let these illusions get to you, Dana. It'll only make you lose sight in what's real and what isn't. Even mess up your confidence. Just remember that I'm here for you, no matter what."

Listening from the turtle she cared about made the bat heroine smile warmly. It was something she needed to hear. Feeling better, Dana continued moving forward to face Usagi and Kintaro, while having the Turtles close by her side.

Usagi heard the whole conversation behind him.

"I have heard tales that Jei is immortal," explained the Rabbit Ronin. "Even if his body is destroyed, he can live on,"

"Don't be like those superstitious fools. They're just afraid," discharged Kintaro.

"And, yet, their courage has saved your life," Usagi pointed out to the holy child. He stopped to face Kintaro and continued speaking. "Instead of judging them, you should have compassion for them. When you understand others, their strength can become yours."

"I don't need anybody's strength. I'm plenty strong myself," bragged the boy, before nearly falling off the path and hugged his knees, whimpering.

"If you are so strong, perhaps you should stop being such a chicken,"

"Chicken? I'm the bravest warrior in the land!" Kintaro exclaimed to Usagi while getting up in a heroic pose.

"Then you must prove it, young one," spoke a familiar evil enchanted wolf's voice that everyone heard. His chuckling echoed across, causing the group to look for the source.

Suddenly, a group of Shiro Neko ninja come out of the snow, surrounding the team.

"Snow cat ninjas!" cried Dana, taking out her whip and staying close to the Leader in Blue's back.

"I knew someone was watching us!" Leo exclaimed, reaching for his katana.

"Wait, hold it!" remonstrated Mikey, "They're wearing white. So, maybe…they're good ninjas."

"Mikey, that's not always true. I'm pretty sure they're wearing white because they're trying to blend into their surroundings of this cold environment," reasoned Dana.

"We don't know that," Mikey faced the shiro neko warrior while extending his right hand to him. "Hey, Ninjitsu Brah."

Unfortunately, the cat ninja pulled out his sword that caused Mikey's arm to disappear. This got Mikey to scream, take a few steps back to his two brothers, and lifted up his coat sleeve to reveal his missing arm. Raph and Donnie gasped at the site of it. Thankfully, Mikey's arm popped out from his shell, making the Wild One laugh in relief.

"So, for the record, bad ninjas," corrected Donnie, taking his weapon out with the others following him.

 _Told ya so,_ pondered the Bat Detective.

"Get 'em!" yelled Raph, lunging towards the cat ninja in front of him. Turns out, that cat ninja disappeared within the snow. Another came out from behind Raph. Fortunately, the Hothead reacted fast enough to block his word attack before it went back into the snow again, causing Raph to stab the snow with his sai.

Donnie was holding his ground when defending himself against some more snow ninjas that disappear and reappear into and out of the snow. He managed to knock one down before it could come out.

With Leo and Usagi defending both sides of the path, Dana kept close to Kintaro with her whip tight in her grasp. The Golden Boy just clutched hard on his axe, slightly scared. Just then, during the fight, one shiro neko was about to attack the bat heroine and holy child from above.

"Oh, no you don't!" exclaimed Leo, whom saw the cat ninja just in time. "Dana, get down!"

When the bat heroine did what he immediately said, Leo made a big leap over her plus Kintaro and kicked the sneaky cat away from them, while in the air. Dana smiled at her blue masked hero.

"Nice one, Leo," complimented the bat detective, after getting back up to face another white cat ninja in front of her. "Stay behind me, Kintaro. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I can handle myself, Komori-Onna. I got this!" griped the holy child, as he narrowed his eyes while marching in front of her with his axe pointing at the cat.

Dana became a little surprised to see Kintaro stepping up like that. She didn't know whether to be irritated by his stubbornness or a little proud to staying brave plus going against the enemy.

 _Am I detecting some growth development here?_ she questioned in her own thoughts, slowly smirking.

Of course, her judgment changed when Kintaro ran away passed Dana before yelping and dropping his axe in fear. That caused her face to change in a 'Really?' kind of way, shaking her head.

 _…Or not. Ah, well. Can't blame the kid for trying,_

Dana dodged the cat's sword slash by ducking, grabbed one of his ankles with her whip, and, with a quick pull, got him to fall off the mountain.

Everyone was so busy dealing with these ninjas, none of them realized that Kintaro was nabbed by one of them until it was too late.

 ** _We have the boy…we must hurry!_** *Translating from cat*

Leo just gasped with Usagi shouting, "No!".

"Kintaro!" Dana shouted, finally seeing the holy child in danger. The bat heroine had one objective, and she already failed by letting him out of her sight for a few seconds. Before she could try to stop him, the white cat tied the young pug kid to a thin rope and tossed him off the mountain; causing Kintaro to screaming.

"They got Pugtaro!" yelled Mikey, before jumping down to catch him with Donnie knocking out another cat ninja.

Just when she was going to follow, Dana gets pulled back by a certain Leader in Blue.

"Dana, no! It's too dangerous. Your wings won't support you down there," reminded Leo.

"But Kintaro needs help!" she exclaimed, filled with concern in her tone. "If anything happens to him because of me…"

"Nothing bad is gonna happen. He'll be safe and rescued. I promise," he assured, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Though she hated not helping, Dana knew what Leo was saying. She had to rely on the Samurai Ronin to save the day on this one.

Usagi kept moving down the mountain, hurrying to reach the boy. He managed to knock down three cat ninjas that were trying to slow him down but couldn't.

As for Mikey, he did the same as the Rabbit Ronin. The Wild One even flipped a white cat ninja over him when it tried to attack him with his back turned. But, much to his surprise, the Shiro Neko ninja used his claws to grab on part of the mountain to stop deteriorating and threw a grenade at Mikey. The explosion was strong enough to cause Mikey to drop down.

"Mikey!" shouted Donnie, seeing his brother dropping plus screaming to his doom.

Suddenly, Leo comes in swinging on some rope and caught Mikey in time.

"I gotcha!" he said.

"Woo! Thanks, Leo!"

With the younger turtle brother safe, Usagi kept jumping down to reach for Kintaro. Once landing, he ended up sword fighting another Shiro Neko. After pushing the cat foe away, Usagi didn't expect him to throw a grenade at him.

"No!" screamed the Rabbit Ronin, before a major explosion happened.

The Turtles and Dana, whom were at the other side of the mountain in safety, heard plus saw it from a far.

Usagi managed to use his katana to stab on to a piece of the mountain to prevent him from falling any further down. Soon, Kintaro stopped sinking at the bottom.

"That was lucky," spoke the Holy Child. He soon looked up to see the blade supporting the cable tying him was losing its grip on the mountain wall. "Ah! Usagi!" shrieked Kintaro, before the cable broke off and made him scream more in a high-pitched tone.

"Kintaro!"

Not wasting anytime, Usagi jumped off and reached for the falling child. In the process, he caught him and made a rough landing to the other side of the mountain. The hold child panted, as Usagi helped him get up.

"You did well, Usagi," Kintaro told him with a small smile but soon resumed to his 'I don't care' expression plus crossing his arms, "Not that I needed your help. Cause I didn't," he retorted.

But those two weren't out of danger, just yet. The last three cat ninjas were coming their way. Usagi grabbed Kintaro, ran, and started tracing the ground with his katana blade before jumping over to a small gap. He, then, looked back at the remaining white ninjas and hitted the mountain with the hilt of his blade. This, of course, caused the ice that was supporting them to crack and made the last of those evil cat ninjas to drop down the Descent of a Thousand Screams.

The Turtles and Dana eventually joined the two, happy to see them in one piece.

"Usagi! Kintaro! Are you guys all right?" questioned an anxious bat detective.

"We are okay, Dana-chan. Thank you for your concern," guaranteed Usagi, letting Kintaro get down from his arm.

"Didn't sound like a thousand screams to me," smirked Raph, as he and the others looked down. He even held on to Kintaro's axe.

"It's okay. Cats always land on their feet," replied Mikey.

The heroes turned around and kept going on their journey. Just when he was about to follow, Kintaro felt a pain on his left knee and groaned in discomfort. Turns out, a certain bat heroine heard him, stopped, and turned around.

"Did you hurt yourself from that hard drop?" asked Dana, getting on her knees while looking at the holy child's sprained leg.

"None of your business," snapped the Golden Boy, folding his arms and looking away.

"If it's a serious injury, then of course it's my business," responded an almost mad bat detective, but kept in a reasonable manner. "I specifically told you to stay behind me and you disobeyed me. None of this would have happened, if you just listened to me."

"I don't take orders from some komori-onna. Especially the traitor kind,"

"But I'm not!" Dana raised her voice a little that made Kintaro jump in surprise and got his full attention on her, "I'm not some heartless monster that randomly kills innocent people plus stir up mischief. You said it yourself that the Akuto-Komori was causing trouble for a few _months_ lately. I didn't get here until a few _days_ ago. If you weren't so short sighted and quickly jumping to conclusions, you would have figured out by now that I'm really just a regular bat-winged girl who not only wants to go back home with her turtle friends, but also trying to protect you through this entire trail when nobody else, except your Yojimbo, was willing to!"

Tiny tears were beginning to form out of her midnight colored eyes. Everything she said made the bat heroine's heart ache. Dana hated to be accused and or blamed for something she didn't do. What's worse, she hated herself for somewhat blowing up in front of the young pug child she was trying to protect. She wasn't even aware that her hands were clutched together.

Kintaro, on the other hand, remained quiet with a stunned look on his face.

Taking a deep breathe, Dana closed her eyes plus calmed down before continuing and relaxing her hands.

"It doesn't matter if you like me for who I am or hate me for who you think I am. All I care about is that you get home to your temple safely," she opened her eyes, giving a mix of worry and grief to the young boy, "And I'm not gonna let you walk out there with a bad leg. Now, do you want me to carry you until we find a safe spot to patch it up or would you rather have me keep an eye on you to go up the mountain that will only create more pain for you?"

The holy child just looked down, not sure how to respond to any of this. Everything Dana said made absolute sense. It was clear that she wasn't doing all these nice things to make him like her. She was doing all of this to defend him from harm. Though he remained having trust issues on her, Kintaro did wanted someone carrying him. Even if it's just a short time.

"Ugh, fine! Just do it already," demanded a defeated Kintaro, having his arms up.

Seeing that he made his choice, Dana lifted Kintaro up until he was in her arms, being supported. The bat heroine turned around and began catching up with the others. The two of them remained quiet to each other until they found somewhere to rest.

Much to everyone's disbelief.

 _Kintaro truly **is** a challenge to everyone, especially me. He has no clue how concerned I was about him nearly becoming a goner back there,_ considered the bat detective in her own train of thoughts. _But I know, deep down, he'll earn his name plus powers as the 'Golden Boy' and make a great difference in this dimension. Maybe not now, but eventually._

* * *

Few minutes later, the sky began to turn pink. The sun was close to setting. It emanated a beautiful shine around the snowy regions.

Just as she had promised, Dana laid Kintaro on a rock so Donnie could wrap his sprained leg. After doing that, she went to Leo and witnessed with the others that they were almost to their destination. For they could see the temple from a distance.

"The Temple Palace of the Sky Buddha," exclaimed Usagi.

Suddenly, something appeared out of the clouds in front of the temple. It looked like dragons moving around in cloud forms. The sight of those strange beings caused a certain bat girl to hug the Leader in Blue's left arm in fright, the three turtle brothers to gasp, and the Ronin Rabbit getting ready to take out his blade.

"Please tell me you guys saw that, too," said Dana, still squeezing Leo's arm.

"It will be dark soon. We must keep moving if we are to make it by nightfall," Usagi told the Turtles and Dana.

"Dana, would you mind letting go? Your bat-like strength is cutting the circulation of my arm and I need it for battle," Leo enquired, trying to keep himself from screaming in agony.

"Oh, right. Sorry," she spoke, releasing her grip in a mortified way. Sometimes, Dana kept forgetting her own strength, when it comes to getting scared.

Meanwhile, Donnie was done with the bandage around Kintaro's sprained leg by tying it up in a good bow. Though, a certain pug kid kept kicking him.

"Ow! You clumsy reptile, that hurts!" complained Kintaro.

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't hurt if you sit still," reasoned the Smart Turtle, "I'm trying to help."

"You're failing!" yelled the holy child while getting off the rock and pointing at him, in anger, "And causing me untold pain, nave! I will have your head chopped off!" he threatened.

Of course, a certain orange clad thought it was all a joke and laughed. Which caused Donnie to smile.

"Aw, I love Pugtaro's threats. Your pure comedy, little dog dude," Mikey said, walking away with Donnie and caused Kintaro's face to turn red in rage.

"I am not funny! I am impressive!" Kintaro told him, kicking around until his head was down, feeling bad.

Leo and Dana couldn't help but stare. Those two were both thinking the same thing on this situation, before sharing a glance at each other and nodded.

"Usagi-san, allow me to protect your young charge for a while. Give you a rest," offered the Leader in Blue.

"And allow me to make up for my mistake at the mountain by keeping a close eye on him from behind," chimed the Bat Detective, whom placed her right hand on her chest.

"I appreciate and accept, Leonardo-san and Dana-chan," replied Usagi. He bowed his head and followed the others when they were walking ahead.

Before going to Kintaro, Leo looked at Dana and asked, "Are you sure you want to continue watching him? I can handle it from here on my own and you could take a break with Usagi."

"I'm sure, Leo. Besides, I made a mental promise to myself that I wouldn't leave Kintaro's side until we get him to his temple," clarified Dana.

"Can't argue with a mental promise," chuckled Leo, which made Dana chuckle, too.

The two teens turned to the holy child, whom was sniveling in sadness. It didn't take him long to sense their presence behind him.

"What do you want?" questioned Kintaro.

"Only to walk with someone who I think is pretty brave," answered Leo.

This not only surprised the holy child, but also the bat detective. Dana looked at him and began to smile; realizing what he was doing.

"What do you mean, you think I'm…I'm brave?"

"I saw you on the mountain. You held your ground and tried to help fight the ninja. That was very impressive, Kintaro," Leo, then, shared a small grin at Dana before walking ahead.

 _He's teaching Kintaro about humility. Well played, Leonardo,_ mused the bat heroine, whom remained pleased.

"It was? I mean, of course it was!" bragged Kintaro, whom now grabbed his axe and tried to catch up to him. Along with Dana keeping her small distance from him at the back. "I was, um, born to be a hero, after all."

Figuring she could help, the bat heroine decided to join in on Leo's plan.

"I can name another time where I thought you were brave," started Dana. "Way before facing those cat ninjas."

"Really? _You_ think I'm brave, too? When?" questioned the holy child, whom had his head turned plus showed a wary look on her.

"The night when we first met. You were able to tell that the Turtles and I were under Jei's control and stopped Usagi from harming us," explained the bat detective. "The way you stood up in front of me, even if it was hard plus scary, helped remind me of another young boy I know. Someone that will always be a part of my heart, whether he's close or far away,"

The Leader in Blue began to simper, while listening to the Bat Heroine. He knew that Dana was talking about her little brother, Tommy. In fact, it intrigued Leo that, instead of getting whacked in the head like him and his brothers, she was freed by being prompted by her better nature.

"Although I didn't say it before, I thank you, Kintaro, for freeing me with your bold and good judgement," she concluded.

Once again, the young pug child was speechless. All he could do was show a small smile before facing forward. It never occurred him that his meet with Dana and the Turtles on stopping Usagi from hurting them from the beginning actually saved the komori-onna from doing any more damage. Or thought that she would show gratitude to him, even after he was so cruel to her.

 _That's my bat detective girl,_ contemplated Leo.

* * *

Later that day, it began to snow once more. The six heroes and young holy child were walking up a path full of stoned stairs. The colors of the pink sky made the stones look light lavender colored around with a tiny splash of blue when in the shade.

Eventually, Kintaro began to stay close to his Yojimbo from behind. Leo and Dana were left to guard the rear end of the group.

While moving, the bat detective had this strange feeling that someone was watching. Turns out, she wasn't the only one thinking the same thing. Leo remained by Dana's side and was not only looking after the others but also making sure the girl he likes doesn't slip like last time.

At the corner of her eye, Dana could have sworn she saw a shadow with glowing green eyes from a distance. She shook her head and looked back at the spot, only to see nothing.

 _Stop being so paranoid, Dana. There's no way that the Shi-no-Tenshi is here,_ she told herself in her own thoughts while rubbing her arms to keep warm; believing it was just her chilly phobia making her see things. _This journey is really starting to get to you._

For many months, ever since her time at the farmhouse, Dana and the Turtles have been noticing a strange being almost everywhere within the shadows. Including their space trip on saving the earth. They couldn't define if it was a mutant, an alien, or something else. So, Dana thought it was like some kind of ghost; seeing that it was a mysterious thing or person who vanishes and was so quick, not a living soul could hear it. Even April was unable to sense it, strangely.

The bat detective soon started calling this mysterious phantom 'Shi-no-Tenshi', which was Japanese for 'Angel of Death', only because she couldn't find nor see it. Plus, she did some research on Japanese legends and found a similar description of the strange being. A story about undead beings or ghosts of angels with lifeless wings to serve with the Grim Reaper, to watch people's fate in the meaning of life and death. Some say, they assist or show people, like they got luck in their side without being seen. Their kind was not to be toyed and messed around, as they show great fear and their wrath. But some were rogues who ruin the balance by the Reaper's order. It was said that the Angels of Death collected souls of evil to eat when they cause death to anyone and or when they were about to die without being seen or felt. Even read the soul of anyone, to see when their time will come soon or another chance to live again. They were known as Death's soldiers/assassins.

But Mikey, as the genius who likes to name stuff, preferred to call this shadow creature 'The Phantom Beast'.

Whatever they call it, this shadow being was a mystery that has not yet been solved for a long while. The Turtles team only hoped to know if this Phantom Beast was really on their side or just waiting for the moment to destroy them however he or she pleased.

Only time will tell.

After countless hours or so, the group finally reached the very top where two pillared lights were located in front of the palace. The sky was dark gray, with a hint of red underneath the clouds. Which meant that it was probably dusk time. The palace itself was well-structured and beautiful in a Feudal Japanese way. It looked like it had three different floors from large to small in having rooms or storage. Many tiny yellow light lanterns were around the palace around this darkest hour.

The Turtles and Dana were already panting in exhaustion from walking up such a very steep hill.

"Well…the good news…in all of this…is that we don't have to…worry about being…out of shape…for the next month," kidded the bat detective, trying to lighten the mood while catching her breath.

Her Turtle friends just kept panting, too tired to even reply. Donnie placed his left hand on Usagi's shoulder in exhaustion. Not that he was bothered.

"Finally, the Temple Palace of the Sky Buddha," exclaimed Usagi, whom was looking at the place.

When they continued walking over a bridge that led straight to the entrance, something felt off. The temple palace seemed suspiciously quiet, and not in a good way. Dana felt like this place was a ghost town. Or, in this particular situation, a ghost temple palace. Not letting her guard down, she moved and stayed next to Kintaro, whom was hiding behind/near Raph.

"Hmm, there should be warrior monks guarding the entrance. Let us be cautious," counseled Usagi.

 _You don't have to tell me twice,_ contemplated Dana.

The first one to run inside was Mikey, whom laughed the whole way. Turns out, the courtyard was as empty, foggy, and creepy on the inside as it was on out. Everyone kept going further into the courtyard. Dana began to see Kintaro, whom had his axe tightly in his hands, was feeling uneasy. She could even her him whimper in fear. Following his gaze to what seemed to trouble him, the bat heroine saw two scary statues on both sides.

"Kintaro, I'm not going to ask if you're feeling scared nor want to hold my hand, but I would like you stay close by going in front of me," Dana spoke, having valor in her tone of voice. "…Please."

Not arguing, Kintaro did what she said. The bat heroine definitely didn't need to be psychic to know that she was being watched. Now taking a moment to stop, the Turtles and Dana drew out their weapons, prepared for whatever danger they will face.

The courtyard revealed to have ten lanterns (five on each side) hanging on the front of the temple, a pair of black cauldrons (one on the far left and the other on the far right), and two cherry blossom trees that were on the same spots as the cauldrons were only further down.

Then, Kintaro bumped in Usagi, when he was running away from the terrifying statues.

Suddenly, the group heard and saw someone kneeling in front of a scroll, chanting some Japanese words.

 _That's weird. I didn't notice nor heard this guy before,_ deliberated a distrustful bat heroine.

"Excuse us, sir. We're looking for the high priest?" called out Leo.

The robbed stranger turned around and revealed himself as none other than the Wicked Wolf himself, Jei!

"Greetings, my warriors," he greeted.

"Jei!" grasped Usagi.

"Thank you for bringing the Golden boy to the temple. It is the only place I can perform the ritual of the new dawn."

 _Ritual of the new dawn? What is this crazy wolf talking a_ – _?_

Dana's own thoughts were interrupted when she saw a familiar three-tailed whip coming her way on the right. Fortunately, she did a spinning cartwheel to avoid the hit. Everyone turned their heads to see the masked mercenary, standing on the one of the roofs that connect to the temple. Though fearful to see her face to face, Dana remained a determined glare at her.

"Uh, bros? Who's that?" asked Mikey, wondering if he should be worried.

"The Akuto-Komori," answered the Ronin Rabbit, not believing his own eyes.

The masked mercenary let out an evil chuckle, revealing her red and black bat wings to fly down.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the four loser reptiles and their weak bat ally. We finally meet once again," the mysterious cloaked girl spoke, clutching hard on the rolled-up whip with her left hand.

Hearing her made Dana slowly recognize it. A vocal sound she thought she'd never hear once more.

 _That voice…_

"Once again? We don't even know you!" shouted Raph.

 _No, it couldn't be…Could it?_

"Actually…you do,"

The winged villain took off her mask and cloak, only for the Turtles and Dana to gasp in tremor. For the masked mercenary revealed herself to be…a white-haired version of Dana!

She looked exactly like her, but slightly different. Her long white straight hair was in the style a high ponytail that was tied by an elegant back ribbon bow, along with her bangs departed into two. She had red eyes and wore black eyeshadow. Her outfit was a scarlet red kimono top with the edges of it white and a light gray turtle neck, dark brown shoulder pads on her upper arms, a double black ribbon belt around her waist that was tied the same way as her ribbon bow on her hair, a long light gray skirt with double red lines in the bottom part that nearly reached her ankles, and white socks with waraji straw sandals that were slightly adjusted to match her foot size.

" _Surprise!_ " cackled the Evil Bat Girl, coldheartedly, in a small singing tone.

"Holy chalupa! Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" questioned Mikey, still shocked.

"If you're talking about Dana's evil clone, Canandra, then yeah," answered Donnie, sharing the same disbelief expression as his brother.

"You five know her?" Usagi asked.

"She's someone we thought we would never see again," responded Leo.

"What's the heck is that failed experiment doing here?! I thought we kicked her butt and tossed her in that Kraang portal the last time she showed her face," accentuated the Hothead, completely confused.

"We did. It sent her to another world. _This_ world!" explained Dana, immediately putting the pieces together that got her turtle friends to stare in dismay.

"That's right," spoke Canandra. "You banished me here. But what you fools didn't know, was that I spent all these months being trained by my wise sensei, Jei," she waved a hand, which was pointing at the Evil Spell Conjurer, "He offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. I help him with his plans on getting some obnoxious kid and he would bring me my most hated enemies to this world so I can personally finish the job,"

"So you were posing as some evil bat legend in a mask to make people cower in fear for your own amusement?" Dana cross-examined, cringing her teeth in anger.

"Pretty much. But I mostly enjoyed seeing your face. Especially when witnessing everyone you cared about disappear, before perishing with them. It was like icing on the cake. Now, I get to do it in real life,"

"We won't let that happen," called Leo, whom wasn't going to let Canandra hurt Dana, like last time.

"I was hoping you would say that," Canandra sneered, before snapping her fingers.

On cue, a loud _thump_ came from behind the heroes. They turned around to see Sumo Kuma!

"Shall I destroy them, master?" he asked.

"Destroy Usagi!" ordered Jei. "The turtles may still be of some use to me. My pupil will take care of the rest."

"Stay with Usagi, Kintaro," Dana ordered, taking off her winter coat and putting her hat down to stretch plus show her light purple bat wings. "Canandra is my problem to handle alone."

"Good luck, Dana," the Leader in Blue told his bat companion before he and his brothers defend themselves from Jei.

The Turtles jumped out of the way from Jei's spinning spear attack. While the four turtle brothers were busy, Dana and Canandra took their battle in midair, flying a few feet above everyone. Dana kept on trying to hit and or grab Canandra with her whip. But she appeared to be too fast. A smugly smirk remained on the evil minor mutant bat's face while dodging her opponents every weapon moves.

"Still using the same battle tactics? That's just pathetic, like yourself," taunted Canandra, whom finally took out her whip and used it to grab Dana's left wing.

Even though she tried to move out of the way, Dana was too late to react. The bat heroine was, then, swung around and thrown down to a wall. Fortunately, she recovered fast enough to get back up on her feet. Canandra remained in the air, cackling at the bat detective.

"Like my new toy? It's a little gift Jei gave me when I joined him. Said it was some famous warrior's he met a long time ago," she twirled around before launching another whip move, but the bat heroine did a tuck and roll to avoid it.

Dana kept on running to keep dodging Canandra's deadly whip strikes. One of those hits managed to split a nearby black cauldron in half. Even though she was fighting her most dangerous enemy, Dana's mind was racing with theories and options on how to keep alive from this.

Meanwhile, Usagi was dealing with Sumo Kuma. The bear warrior slammed his kanabo to hit his enemy, only to miss. The holy child just ran away, too afraid to fight. Kintaro hide behind a stone and just watched from a far, whimpering. Usagi continued moving away from Sumo Kuma's kanabo swings and hits. Then, Usagi used his katana blade to block the kanabo that was closing to crushing him. Still keeping his ground and defending himself the best he could, Usagi managed to redirect the kanabo, moved Sumo Kuma around, and flipped him; causing the bear warrior to slam down hard for the count.

The Turtles kept on fighting Jei, only to knock each of them back one by one.

"Excellent. You have more than proven your worth," replied the Wicked Wolf.

"Our worth?" questioned Leo.

"Did you think I truly gave up my control over you? No. How do you think I've been spying on you all this time?" explained Jei, as he watched the Turtles' faces turn into a shocked expression, "I have been watching you through your eyes."

Jei pulled out the four turtle talismans. After he did that, the Turtles held their heads, struggling to resist. The poor pug child kept on whimpering while watching.

Meanwhile, Dana was hiding behind one of the stoned structures of the temple with Canandra still out there in the air.

"You're wasting your time, Dracana. Why can't you see that your efforts in fighting are pointless?" goaded Canandra.

"Because I'm not a quitter," Dana made a quick slide under the bad clone to slip away from another hit, jumped on an undamaged well holding the other cauldron, and performed a spinning back kick that knocked Canandra out of the sky, "I never give up fighting for what's right. Just like I'm not giving up on my friends. Including Kintaro. Unity is what makes us strong," she answered, landing on her two feet.

Canandra got up from her rough landing, as if she was never hurt, and remained smirking mischievously plus chuckling.

"Oh, please, don't make me laugh," scoffed the evil bat, "Unity is nothing but a weakness. The kid doesn't have the guts to take on anyone. You have to be completely desperate to put all your trust in this worthless, puny weakling. Besides, the only thing you and your feeble turtle companions have been doing was help Jei get everything on track by annihilating the stupid rabbit. In fact, those turtles are gonna do that right now."

"What are you–?" the bat heroine started, only to hear the Turtles struggling in slight pain. She quickly turned around to see them back in Jei's spell with their mindless white eyes. Even saw the four turtle talismans on the wicked wolf's hand.

 _Oh, my bat…He's been keeping a link to their minds this entire time! He was just waiting for the right moment to make them do his evil purposes!_ she pondered, in horror, figuring this out now.

"Now, turtle ninja, destroy Miyamoto Usagi," he ordered them.

The four turtle brothers turned around to the Rabbit Ronin, with Leo pulling out his katana.

"No!" Just when she was about to help Usagi before the Turtles could reach him, Dana got wrapped by the three-tailed whip around her upper body and pulled back until she was trapped in an armlock by Canandra.

"Now the real fun begins," cackled the Evil Bat, whom kept a strong grip on her enemy.

"Usagi! Get out of there! Run!" shouted Dana.

Although he could hear the bat detective, Usagi was not gonna back down on this battle. The Turtles ran up and attacked him with everything they got. Usagi backed up a little, only to get punched from behind by Raph. Donnie and Mikey managed to whack him from the front. The Rabbit Ronin was not doing well. The Turtles each hitted Usagi until he was on the stone-cold ground, beaten up.

Canandra made Dana watch everything in terror. She even laughed evilly at her opponent's pointless struggles in getting out.

"This is exactly how I pictured my vengeance. Making you suffer by viewing your so-called friends destroy innocent lives while standing helpless to save them. What a great way to torture you before ending your life in an instant."

Usagi tried to grab his katana, but it was stepped on before he could do anything. He looked up to see Leo, whom had his katana pointed at him.

"Guys, no! Please, don't do this!" Dana cried to her friends, secretly begging for this nightmare to end.

"They can't hear you. No one is going to save your stupid bunny buddy. It's over,"

The bat heroine hated to think this, but it would appear that Canandra was right. There seemed to be no way out. What made Dana's heart break the most was noticing the holy child about to watch this sickening moment before him. All she could do was stare with her teary eyes.

"Usagi! NOOOO!" shouted Kintaro.

Just when Leo swung down his katana to deliver the final blow, something unexpected happened. The Ronin Rabbit, along with the bat detective, stared in shock to see Kintaro stepping in front of Usagi and the blade broke into a million pieces!

"What!?" Jei and Canandra questioned at the same time, in completely disbelief.

If it wasn't even more impossible, Kintaro glowed light blue, magically floated into the air, did a few moves, and went all Zen powered. The holy child had finally earned his hidden abilities!

"Kintaro?" muttered the aghasted bat heroine.

"Jei, release them from your power, evil one," spoke Kintaro, whom was still in the air, glowing, in his meditative state.

The Wicked Wolf pointed his spear at the child, ordering the Turtles to attack him. Kintaro grabbed Leo and Raph's fists, twisted them around and threw them away, while still in the air.

Realizing that her opponent was distracted plus too dumbfounded at what was happening, Dana had to make her move now. She elbowed Canandra in the gut, twisted her arm until it was out of its socket-which resulted a painful scream out of her-and finished her off with a roundhouse kick that was hard enough to cause Canandra to crash into a stoned wall. The wall broke and it landed on top of the defeated bat anti-heroine, crushing her. Dana just kept breathing exhaustedly and kept a stern glare, hoping that she was gone for good.

Meanwhile, Mikey tried to hit the holy child with his nunchucks while backing away, but Kintaro kept moving forward and avoided every one. Kintaro, then, punched the Wild One, which knocked him out. Donnie spinned his staff and revealed his naginata blade to hit his target, only for Kintaro to jump on his staff and kicked him to the ground.

But the fight wasn't over yet.

Sumo Kuma appeared, only shown with nothing but his blue mawashi. The bear warrior let out a roar, with Kintaro doing the same as he kept protecting Usagi. The Ronin Rabbit just watched in awe when the two of them were going to wrestle. As they ran into each other, Kintaro punched Sumo Kuma in the stomach and threw him over his body. The bear warrior was in midair until he crashed somewhere far away from him and Usagi.

The Samurai Rabbit just kept his mouth opened in a shocked way on the whole thing.

"Are you all right, my friend?" Kintaro questioned his Yojimbo.

"You did it," Usagi told him.

Kintaro gave him a smile, then shared it with a certain bat detective, whom was looking at them from a distance. It was clear that she was very proud of him because she was grinning in a thankful way.

"Way to go, Kintaro," commented Dana, wiping some dirt off her kimono.

Suddenly, Kintaro was caught by some metal chains and pulled to Jei.

"Even your great strength cannot break this enchanted chain Golden Boy," Jei spoke, holding his spear close to Kintaro's face that made him whimper.

"Let him go, Jei!" demanded the Bat Heroine, as she ran plus stood next to Usagi with her whip.

"Hold on, Kintaro. I will–"

"You will do nothing, Ronin," the Wicked Wolf stated, slowly walking forward, "All that has happened is as I intended it. I wanted you, the turtles, and Dracana to teach Kintaro humility, compassion, and courage, to release the boy's powers. You have transformed him into the perfect vessel…for me,"

 _That does not sound good,_ thought the bat detective.

"For you? Then it is true," grasped Usagi.

"What? What is true?" Dana questioned, whom was still slightly confused.

"Yes, I am immortal, having traveled from body to body for many years. But the Golden Boy's body will be the most powerful of them all. Perhaps stronger than the Komori-Onna I transferred hundreds of years ago,"

This got the bat detective to lose it when hearing that last part. She clenched on the handle of her whip in anger.

"It was you, wasn't it?!" exclaimed Dana while pointing at Jei, " _You_ corrupted Akai Yanagi and turned her into the Akuto-Komori! _You_ made her do all those horrible things just so you could perform your awful ritual! Didn't you!?"

"That is correct," confessed Jei. "Yanagi was my puppet to find me the most powerful and worthy of her tribe. She had to destroy any bat warrior that couldn't defeat her. The only one that did was the eldest sister, Hasu Hanna. From there, I made my move and did the ritual, when she was vulnerable from her battle,"

 _I knew it! I knew Jei was connected to and responsible for everything!_

Dana got her whip ready, not going to let Jei get away with this. As she was about to run at him to attack, yelling, the bat detective felt a familiar dark energy inside her mind that made her stop at her tracks. She then placed both clenched hands on her head, trying to fight it off.

"I didn't forget about you, Komori-Onna," replied Jei, showing that he still had Dana's bat talisman hanging in his speared hand. "You bested my former student. For that, you are more than worthy of becoming my Akuto-Komori. You will serve me forever!"

"Agh! No! NOOOO!" Dana shouted, before losing herself to Jei's magic again. When she stopped struggling, her eyes revealed to be completely white.

"Dana-chan!" exclaimed Usagi, shocked to see her back in Jei's evil influence. Even Kintaro seemed worried about Dana, for the first time ever.

The brainwashed heroine, then, flew forward until she was by her master's left side.

Griping on his katana, Usagi got up to try to attack Jei. But a pillar appeared in front of him, which knocked the Rabbit Ronin back down.

"Oh, gods of the new dawn, hear me! To serve you for eternity, grant me the power to move my soul into this new form," Jei spoke, placing his hand over Kintaro, whom was placed on the stoned pillar and still tied up.

As he began chanting the spell, the cloudy sky began to turn dark red. Scattered thunder and lightning storms were forming. Flashes of red lightning bolts appeared, disappeared, and reappeared spontaneously.

Just then, the Turtles began to wake, revealing their normal eyes instead of their white mindless ones.

"Ugh, I was feeling really evil there, for a minute," spoke Mikey, holding his head.

"I think we got hit so hard by Kintaro's spiritual power…" began Donnie.

"He knocked the evil right out of us," concluded Raph.

"Yeah, but Jei doesn't know that," whispered Leo, starting to come up with a plan. "Put your evil eyes back on and follow me," he told his brothers.

The Turtle team, pretending to still be under Jei's control, moved into the scene. Mikey and Donnie each grabbed Usagi by the shoulders. It made Usagi believe that he was trapped from stopping Jei.

"Yes, hold him, my disciples. But do not finish Usagi yet," the Wicked Wolf commanded, Raph and Leo slowly approaching, "Let him bear witness as your master ascends to power!"

Usagi looked up, as Leo pointed his blade to him. Jei's soul began to come out of his own body. He floated down to Kintaro, causing the little one to struggle out of the chains. Then, Leo winked at Usagi, causing the Rabbit Ronin to look at him in surprise. In a split second, Leo turned around to face Jei and tossed his katana towards him. This managed to knock Jei's soul back into himself and pierced his chest, stopping the ritual.

"Treachery," spoke Jei.

With the charades over, the Turtles ran and charged up to Jei. Just when Leo and Donnie were gonna attack Jei first, they were knocked back by a certain bat heroine's spinning side-kick.

"Dana?!" questioned Leo. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, no," spoke Donnie, coming to a realization, "Jei must have still had her in his control but didn't do it until after Kintaro freed us!"

Jei used Kintaro as a weapon by spinning him around to knock back Raph and Mikey. He even slammed Kintaro to the cold ground, as if he was a piece of garbage. The sight of that made the Ronin Rabbit furious.

"You monster!" shouted Usagi.

Jei only laughed, as he watched the Samurai Rabbit yelling in rage, fighting him. The Wicked Wolf deflected his katana attacks with his black spear. Usagi kept on attacking with rage with Jei still defending himself. Usagi managed to cut down a pillar, in the process. Jei spinned his spear, swinging at his opponent while moving backwards, but Usagi kept dodging them all.

While those two moved their battle outside, the Turtles kept themselves busy in freeing Dana from the Evil Wolf's dark spell on her…while trying not to hurt her nor let her hurt them. Donnie and Raph both ran towards Dana at once, coming both sides. She flew up, causing the two turtles to ram into each other. Then, Mikey used his kusarigama chain to grab her right ankle and tried to pull her down. Unfortunately, the bat heroine was too strong for the Wild one. She managed to swing him all over the temple. While Mikey kept her distracted, the other three brothers tried to think of a new plan.

"There's got to be a way to snap Dana out of her super, hypnotic state," spoke the Smart One.

"We could really use that kid or Usagi to smack some sense into her, like last time, over here" countered the Hothead.

Suddenly, the Leader in Blue just realized something, after hearing his brother. He remembered what the young heroine mentioned earlier to Kintaro when teaching him humility.

"Wait a minute! Dana was _never_ released from Jei's power by getting hit in the head, like us. She was released when she began thinking about Tommy," clarified Leo.

"So?" asked Raph.

"So, if we could remind her of all the things that matter to Dana, then maybe she could free herself from Jei's control,"

"Let's hope you're right," Donnie replied, spinning his staff.

"AAAHHH! I could really use some help over here!" screamed Mikey, whom was still getting pulled everywhere by Dana, "I don't know how long I can hold her!"

Just then, the bat detective was tackled down by Raph. This caused her to stop flying and Mikey to land face first. Raph kept Dana ensnared in his arms around her from behind. He had to keep the brainwashed bat from getting out, in order to let his brothers do what they had to do.

"Anytime, Leo! I can't do this forever," grunted Raph.

"Dana, you have to listen to me! It's Leonardo!" the Leader in Blue said, walking close to her.

The bat heroine finally managed to get out of Raph's hold on her and flipped him over to knock all three of the brothers. She retracted her wings, went back up to the air, and was about to do a nose dive at them. Suddenly, Dana felt a high-pitched, ghostly moan scream inside her brain. It seemed to have gotten her to place her hands on head and stay in her position. Seeing that their friend was stunned, somehow, the Turtles decided to take this as their window of opportunity to free her.

"Please, snap out of it, Dana! I know you're still in there," Leo shouted.

"We're your friends, dudette! Think of the all the times we shared pizza at the lair," spoke Mikey, after getting back up.

"Remember how we helped you get comfortable and better control in becoming a minor mutant," reminded Donnie.

"And faced different mutants, aliens, and freaks together," added Raph.

"You're the one who keeps saying to never give up on fighting for what's right. Now it's my turn to tell you to fight!" continued Leo, "Fight for who you are! Fight for those you love: your parents, your brother, your friends, your family! We need you back, Dana. More importantly… _I_ need you back."

After listening to her dear friends' words, sudden flashes of the bat heroine's memories came flooding through her mind. She began remembering her first time being mutated and found by the Turtles, fighting the Kraang and Foot clan, and her new mutant allies plus friends. But the most memories that really touched both her mind and heart were the ones involving the turtle she had always loved since day one. Dana let out a short scream, before fainting and falling. Leo quickly moved fast enough to caught her in time. She had her eyes closed, not determined if she was free or not.

"Come on, Dana, say something. Anything!" the Leader in Blue spoke, keeping his worried gaze on the bat detective in his arms.

"Anything," the bat detective mumbled weakly, yet, with a hint of joke; revealing her half-opened normal black pupils.

Leo chuckled, joyful and relieved that Dana was back to her kind, smart self. The other three brothers just smiled at the good news.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the bridge of the temple, Usagi swung his katana at Jei when he jumped, but he kicked and knocked his blade out of his hands. Jei, then, knocked his enemy back with his spear and unrolled Kintaro's chain a little over the edge of the bridge, resulting the holy child to scream.

"It ends here, Usagi," said Jei, "No blade can stop me. No mortal can stop me. I will live forever,"

Suddenly, Kintaro managed to roll himself up and bit Jei's arm. He screamed in pain. Not losing a second, Usagi ran up, grabbed Leo's blade that was still stuck to Jei's chest-trapping his soul in there-and threw him off the bridge. He even stomped on the chain to stop Kintaro from falling down with Jei.

"Nooooo!" was the last thing Jei said before plummeting to his doom.

Though no one could see through the cloudy abyss, there was a howl and loud crack that came out from it.

Jei was defeated, for good.

The Turtles and Dana soon approached out to see Usagi and Kintaro.

"Did you hear him land? I didn't hear him land," replied Mikey.

"I don't think you're going to," Raph told him.

"Leonardo," Usagi said, handing Leo back his sword. He then looked at Dana and smiled; happy to see that she was no longer under Jei's influence.

The bat heroine shared that smile back at him.

The Samurai Rabbit pulled Kintaro to safety and unwrapped the chain. Once he did that, the holy child surprised Usagi by hugging him a hug.

"Thank you, Yojimbo," he said to him.

"All is well, Kintaro. You are safe," spoke Usagi, rubbing the boy's head.

The sight of them made the bat heroine clapped her hands together close to her tiny grinned lips, slightly crying with cheerfulness.

"You okay, Dana?" asked Donnie.

"I'm just...so happy for both Kintaro and Usagi," answered Dana, sniffling, trying to keep it together.

"Come on, team, let's head inside," ordered Leo.

The seven heroes began to walk back into the temple, believing that it was finally over. But, what nobody knew, was a white-haired minor mutant coming out of the collapsed wall that crushed her. She managed to position her twisted arm back, mustering all of her will power to prevent from screaming in agony. The anti-heroine glared at her enemies from a distance, completely more raged than before. She slightly growled to herself, quietly.

 _I'm not done with you, yet, Little Miss Hero Girl,_ pondered Canandra, reaching for her weapon and concentrated hard enough to magically activate the three-spiked balls on the ends of the whip.

Suddenly, Canandra began to struggle with steadying her target because she began to hear a high-pitched ghostly moan sonic scream that was slowing her down. Turns out, whatever that weird scream was, it seemed to affect Dana and Usagi, as well, by stopping. The others began to notice their friend's not feeling good and stopped at their tracks.

"Usagi? Dana? What's wrong?" questioned Leo, concerned about his companions.

"It's that scream, again… I keep hearing it," answered Dana, hoping this splitting headache stops.

"Me…too," Usagi struggled to say.

"Donnie! Explanation?" questioned Raph.

"They must be hearing a high frequency that only certain creatures could hear," observed Donnie.

While the Turtles and Kintaro were figuring out who or what was causing this, Canandra proceeded with her revenge. Ignoring the high-scream that was nearly close to making her deaf, she gripped the handle of her three-tailed whip, spinned it around in the air, and whipped it with a loud _CRACK_ , striking her target.

The high-pitched scream fell dead silent, after.

The group turned their heads, in slow motion, at where the sound came from. All of their faces were shown shocked. Because the three-tailed whip slashed towards Dana…only for Leo to get in the way by protecting her, hugging the bat heroine from behind! The bat heroine was stunned, trying to process on what just happened.

Realizing she missed, Canandra gave away her position with an irritated short scream.

"Is this a joke?! That stupid turtle had to get in my way, all the time?!" the bat villain shouted, stomping her foot in anger, "Ugh, whatever! I'm not gonna fail again just because of some stupid baby cry!"

Just when she was about to do another strike, Kintaro grabbed plus threw his Axe of Power in front of Canandra. But she saw it and ducked.

"Ha! It's gonna take more than a cheap shot to stop–"

Before she could finish that sentence, the axe bounced back on the wall and got her from behind. Once the axe made contact, Canandra disappeared in a white flash.

"Yeah! Take that, Canandra!" shouted Mikey.

"Guess that's the last we'll ever see her again," assumed Raph, reluctantly.

"LEONARDO!"

The team stopped their little celebration and directed their attention to the bat detective and blue masked turtle. Dana appeared to be upset on her knees with Leo laying on the ground sideways, facing the bat heroine. At first, everyone was confused on why the bat detective was distressed. But, then, they noticed the Leader in Blue was barely moving. His green skin tone was beginning to lose its colors.

"The whip…The whip Canandra had," Dana explained, her voice trembling in tremor. "…I-i-it cracked through his shell…"

Being the smart one, Donnie went down to study the wound. When he lifted Leo's coat, he gasped in disbelief at how severe the damage was.

"Oh, dear. This is bad. I've never seen a scratch this brutal before," specified the Smart One, not sure how to stay calm at his comprehension. "Even Dana's long lasso isn't lethal enough to make an injury on living tissue and cause sudden ruin,"

"It is Yanagi's three-star whip," elucidated the Rabbit Ronin. "It is a mystical yet treacherous weapon, in the wrong hands. Once it strikes at an opponent's heart, the victim is left slain."

"Phew. Good thing he wasn't hit by the heart," exclaimed the Wild One, totally oblivious about the problem while crossing his arms behind his head.

"Mikey, you're missing the point!" Donnie half-shouted at his younger brother, "Whatever Canandra used on Leo is slowly destroying him from the inside. Whether he was hit from behind or the front, there's no miss with three shots being used simultaneously."

"Usagi, you're the expert in all things mystic and dangerous and whatever. Isn't there something we could do to save him?" asked the Hothead, not wanting to lose his older brother for good.

"If we had any of the monks in this temple, I'm sure one of them could help," answered the Ronin Rabbit.

"But they're not here! Where could we possibly find a monk at a time like this?"

"…We can't," Usagi looked down, remorsed for the weeping bat girl. "Not in time. I'm sorry."

"Why, Leo? Why did you do that?" sobbed the bat heroine, placing her hand on his cheek.

"To... protect the... the girl I... " Leo muttered, weakly, before passing out.

Even though he didn't finish that sentence, Dana knew what Leo was going to say. Just deciphering the message easily only made her bawl even more while hugging him tight. The three turtle brothers just stared, depressed about losing another close member of their family. The holy child-whom now understands empathy-walked over to Dana, placed a hand on her back, and patted in a comforting way.

At this very moment, hope seemed to be meaningless. The group needed an absolute miracle to rescue the Leader in Blue.

...Luckily, there was.

A gust of wind blew hard enough to move multiple petals out of the two cherry blossom trees pass the sad team. They didn't even notice the beautiful flowers slowly forming a person sized tornado and dispersing to reveal a tall, white cloaked figure.

"I can save him," spoke a new voice.

Slightly inquisitive, the five boys looked up in astonishment to finally see the new being standing before them. Donnie was inquisitive yet calm, Mikey remained curious, and Raph was both interested and serious. Dana, on the other hand, was still busy crying and focusing on her deceased turtle friend. She wasn't paying attention about anything around her.

The new mysterious being appeared to be and sounded female. Perhaps, an older woman. Her face and skin tone was yet to be revealed, due to wearing a silk hooded, shoulderless yet long sleeved, white robe with golden edges. A matching white cape-like cloak was covering her back. Her hands were covered by being inside the sleeves. She even had a red flower-like short layer around her waist with golden edges, as well. Plus, a very long red sash coming out of the front. Her shoes were waraji straw sandals with white socks.

"Your brother. I can save him," repeated the shadowy woman, whom was walking towards the group. "But I need to do it immediately. Where was he hit?"

The Turtles looked at each other, wondering if they should trust her. They even looked at Usagi to be sure. The Samurai Rabbit kept neutral, only giving them a small nod; as if telling them they should. After getting his opinion, the three brothers turned their attention back to the mystery woman.

"From behind, through his shell," answered Donnie, pointing at the wound.

The hooded lady, then, went down to her knees, facing Leo and the gloomy bat detective. Once she was close, Dana finally noticed the white stranger in front of her.

"W-who are you?" questioned the bat heroine, chocking from her tears.

"I am a friend. That I can assure you," she answered. "Please, let go of your friend so I can heal him. There isn't much time."

Once she heard of what this woman was going to do, Dana didn't hesitate to release Leo. If the cloaked lady said she could save Leo, then the bat detective had to take that chance.

The white robed woman put her sleeved-covered hands on the Leader in Blue's wounds. Concentrating deeply, she chanted a mantra that was in Japanese and traced her fingers around the shell. It kind of sounded a little bit like a song. Slowly, the marks began to glow gold-colored. It made everyone's eyes grew wide in awe. Then, magically, the scratches closed and disappeared. Once she stopped the mantra, the mysterious woman nearly collapsed from exhaustion but tried to keep herself balanced.

"It is done," she said, sighed from tiredness.

Everyone kept their gaze on Leo. He seemed to have his natural green skin tone back, but still remained stiff. Suddenly, they heard a light groan come out of him. It caused the whole group to gasp.

"Leo?" Dana questioned, not believing what she's seeing.

The Leader in Blue slowly opened his sapphire eyes and got up half way while feeling his head. It didn't take him long to see his team with small jaw dropped looks all over their faces.

"Uh…Did I miss anything important?" asked the Leader in Blue.

"Leo!" the Turtles and Dana exclaimed, overjoyed to see him conscious again. Without warning, they dog piled him with a hug; much to the Leader in Blue's surprise.

"We thought we lost you forever, bro," the Wild One said.

"You scared the heck out of us, you dork," responded the Hothead.

"It's so good to have you back," added the Smart One.

Though slightly getting crushed, Leo just chuckled about how much his brothers were happy to see him alive and well. His eyes soon met Dana's. He saw a mix of sad yet happy teary eyes and light smile, before getting squeezed into another tight hug.

"Thanks for protecting me," she whispered in his earhole, causing the Leader in Blue to smile and hug her back.

"No problem," he gently said to the bat detective, gently brushing her black hair with his left hand.

While the turtles and Dana kept celebrating the return of their leader, Usagi moved towards the tired cloaked lady and helped her stand up.

"Thank you for your help, wise stranger," Usagi told her. "We are more than grateful of saving Leonardo-san,"

"It was the least I could do for the brave heroes whom brought honor back to this temple,"

The cloaked woman finally took off her cape and put down her hood. When Usagi, along with the rest of the group, saw her appearance, they were surprised once again. The mysterious woman…was a komori-onna!

She appeared to be around her 40's, had golden eyes, waist length straight brownish red hair, and pale skin. On her head was a bronze metal headband around her head with two metal flowers on each side. She had large, light brown colored bat wings on her back.

"Are you Hasu Hanna?" questioned Usagi.

The Komori-Onna lightly chuckled before answering, "I am not my sister," she rolled up right sleeve to reveal her arm having a red birthmark of a bat hanging upside down on a willow tree branch with its wings wide and opened.

 _She has the birthmark,_ contemplated Dana.

"I am Akai Yanagi, the youngest sister leader of my former tribe," she explained, before waving her hand to indicate a certain bear warrior that was still knocked out. "And I would be in your debt if you help me assist Sumo Kuma."

Without question, the Turtles and Dana stood back up and did what the Komori-Onna asked. They helped by supporting Sumo Kuma and, together, carried him inside the temple with Usagi, Kintaro, and Yanagi following them.

"Is anyone gonna to fill us in on what the heck is going on here?" Raph questioned out loud, slightly muddled at what was happening.

"Something tells me we're about to find out," assumed Dana.

* * *

Soon, the sky was back from evil red to pleasant blue. The darkness was gone, the danger had past. It even began to snow.

The Turtles, Usagi, Kintaro, and Dana were facing Sumo Kuma, whom was back to normal and awake. They stared at the Komori-Onna next to the bear warrior that was attending his wounds, waiting for some answers.

"I know you all have probably heard of me as the Rogue Bat whom did terrible things hundreds of years back. But, please, if you hear me out, you will understand the truth behind it all," explicated Yanagi. "I was once a leader of my tribe, protecting and seeking those in need of help. One day, I heard someone in dire peril. When I freed the stranger from a boulder crushing him, I had no clue that I was being lured into a trap until it was too late. The stranger turned out to be Jei and managed to cast his dark magic on me. He made me wipe out my tribe, along with our home, in order to help him find the most powerful Komori-Onna to transfer his body to live on,"

"Sounds familiar," muttered Raph, crossing his arms.

"When I was fighting against Hasu Hanna, my older sister, she was able to sense that I was under an evil enchantment. In order to save me, Hasu Hanna used the very same mantra I used for your friend on me. Only few of my kind were able to master it. When she performed it, I fell off the corner of a mountain and lost my weapon, in the process. Although she freed me, Jei still got what he came for. The healing mantra drains our energy, after doing it, and must never be used unless it was an emergency. He took my sister's life, unaware that I was still alive and out of his control,"

"And I'm guessing Jei also kept your three-star whip, after all these years, to let someone else use it for his evil plans," theorized the bat detective, connecting all the dots.

Yanagi nodded her head before continuing, "Yes. I felt guilty for my past mistakes that Jei forced me to do. With no home and tribe to return to, I decided to find one. I flew around the skies nonstop, searching for somewhere that no one could find me. Eventually, I was found by a fellow monk. After I explained everything to him, he took me under his wing and trained me to be become a monk here, in the Temple Palace of the Sky Buddha, and stayed ever since,"

The group remained silent, too astounded by Yanagi's tale.

"Even though I was part of a new family, I still feared that, one day, Jei would return. I just didn't know when," concluded the Komori-Onna.

"What happened to the other monks that were here? And how did you know we needed help?" inquired Usagi.

"When I sensed something bad was coming through a vision I had weeks ago, I immediately took action of evacuating the other monks before Jei could get the chance of controlling them. Including myself. Sumo Kuma stayed and fought the best he could in protecting the temple," she then looked at the Turtles plus Dana while proceeding her answer, "Last night, I had another vision involving all of you. I saw Jei finally being vanquished by the Ronin who was protecting Kintaro, but also witnessed the loss of your kappa friend. Once I couldn't sense Jei's presence, I flew as fast as I could to save Leonardo in time,"

"Yanagi, do you know where we could find the high priest?" asked Leo.

"You may want to ask him," she suggested, waving her hand to Sumo Kuma.

"Forgive me, friends. I, too, was enchanted by the wizard's evil," spoke Sumo Kuma, "I am grateful. You freed my temple,"

" _Your_ temple?" questioned Donnie, in surprise.

Yanagi smiled while nodding her head again.

"I am head monk of the temple palace of the Sky Buddha," he explained. "Now that Jei is gone, Yanagi and I will send for the return of our fellow monks so that we may attend and protect Kintaro, the Golden Boy,"

Sumo Kuma and Akai Yanagi both bowed their heads to Kintaro. The Turtles and Dana turned around to look at the holy child.

"I am thankful to you turtles, too…and Dana," Kintaro said, smiling and bowing.

The bat heroine smiled, realizing that the Golden Boy actually said her real name, for once.

"Aw, yeah! See? I told you Pugtaro was a good dog! Up high, little pup!" Mikey said, raising his hand out for Kintaro to high-five him. Unfortunately, the holy child was too small to reach for his hand. After seeing him try to get it by jumping, Mikey said, "Okay, okay, down low," while lowering his hand for Kintaro to hit it.

The bat detective kept herself from laughing by quietly giggling at Mikey and Kintaro's little high-five scene.

"Um, we still have a problem, guys. How are we going to get home?" pointed out Donnie.

"Spiritual power brought you here, so it is the key to your return," answered Sumo Kuma, holding Kintaro's axe.

"Kintaro, you can make that way," finished Yanagi.

The bear warrior gave the axe back to the Golden Boy. Focusing on his spiritual power while closing his eyes, Kintaro swung his axe to create a white rift that leads straight to the five heroes' dimensional home.

"This doorway will not last long," warned Sumo Kuma.

"Then it's time to go. So long, Kintaro. You did good," Raph said, patting on Kintaro's head while passing him and Usagi.

"Catch ya on the flip side, awesome rabbit dude. Later, Pugtaro brah," spoke Mikey, following Donnie and Raph through the portal.

"Thank you, again, Yanagi, for saving Leonardo. If Hasu Hanna and the other Komori-Onnas were here, they would be real proud for what you did," Dana said to the komori-onna, before bowing and slowly heading towards the exit.

"I'm sure they would have, my distant komori sister from another world. May the gods honor you and your turtle friends," replied Yanagi, bowing back.

Just when Dana was about to meet with Leo, she felt someone hugging her legs. The bat heroine looked down to see Kintaro and smiled.

"Thanks for not leaving my side nor giving up on me, Dana," Kintaro told her. "Even when I wasn't being nice to you. I hope you can forgive me, someday," he looked down, remorseful for admitting his mistakes.

Dana bent halfway down until she was eye leveled with Kintaro, showing a gratified smile. "I already have. Just promise me that you won't judge people without knowing the facts, first," she asked, placing her hand on Kintaro's cheek.

"I will,"

Without warning, the bat detective and holy child finished their goodbye with a hug. They were both gonna miss each other.

"Dana, time to go!"

Knowing who was calling her, Dana finished with her goodbye hug and hurried next to the Leader in Blue.

"Goodbye, Usagi-san," Leo told the Ronin, as he, Dana, and Usagi both bowed their heads to each other.

"Farewell, my brother and sister," replied Usagi.

"Don't stop being the most amazing rabbit warrior, Usagi," spoke Dana, smirking.

"You ready?" questioned the Leader in Blue, bringing his hand out to the Bat Detective.

"Ready as I'll ever be,"

Once she grabbed his hand, Dana and Leo crossed the white portal together.

Little to their knowledge, a shadow being was following them back home. Before leaving through the gateway, it looked at Yanagi, only to see her smile and nod her head.

The gateway disappeared, in a flash, after that.

 _May you continue your secret destiny with these warriors, Shi-no-Tenshi,_ pondered Yanagi. _Your paths will, one day, cross soon._

"Yanagi, there is one more thing I must ask about, before I leave," spoke Usagi. "I heard a strange moan before Leonardo-san was destroyed. Dana-chan heard it, too. Is it possible that it was the Shi-no-Tenshi?"

The komori-onna took a moment to choose her words carefully before answering the rabbit Ronin's question. "Yes...in a way, it was. But _he_ is not a problem you should be concerned about. This is something your allies must face alone."

"Of course. I will be sure to let everyone know that the Akuto-Komori is no longer an issue," promised the long-eared rabbit.

"Thank you, Ronin. Be safe on your journey,"

Usagi picked up the five talismans that Jei used to bring the Turtles and Dana in this dimension in the first place. With his mission completed in getting Kintaro to the palace, it was time for Usagi to leave. While he was putting back his winter coat and hat, a certain pug child was actually starting to miss him.

"You don't have to go, Ronin. You could stay," suggested Kintaro, hoping for him not to leave.

"I must go. There are others. Innocence in need of my sword," explained Usagi. "But, if you ever need me, I shall return. Goodbye, Kintaro-sama."

The Rabbit Ronin began to walk out, continuing his new journey.

"Thank you, Yojimbo! Sayonara, Usagi!" shouted Kintaro, waving goodbye.

And so, Usagi roamed the snowy lands, once again, with the relics of the turtles and bat tied to his katana. To remember them by. The Rabbit Ronin knew that this was an adventure he would never forget. He tipped his hat down, revealing a small smile. He departed further into the snowy regions to ensure his code of honor to the samurai code of Bushido on aiding those in need of his service.

 ** _The end_**

* * *

 **And that concludes the TMNT Fan Fiction version of the Samurai Saga! It took me forever to finish this.**

 **Special thanks to Hermana Kunoichi, BabyPinkPuppy, DivaGlam, and Angelxoxo8. Couldn't have made this story without the help of my Best Fan Fiction Friends.**

 **I also couldn't have done the shadowy figure character without Lewamus Prime 2017. He really helped find some good cameo spots in this part. I just hope you liked it, LP. And if you guys are curious to know more about this character before the next chapter, be sure to check on LP's DeviantArt at his own bio here at . The links are all there. Plus, LP and I have been planning to do the Monster Arc that will involve his character and my character going back in time with the Turtles and Renet. But that's going to be a while. You'll be hearing more about this Angel of Death character on the next chapter. Along with another creature that bumps into the night.**

 **Also, just to clarify, I am not going to accept anyone else's characters for this story! LP's concept was an acception. I'm fine doing two of his characters, but that's it! I'm still trying to get use to handling stuff like this. Really been a long time since I've done stories using people's own characters.**

 **And I'm guessing some of you were kind of surprised and shock about the truth behind the Komori-Onna legend involving the Akuto-Komori and a certain evil clone posing at the Rogue Bat. Not to mention all of you are thinking the same question: "Who the heck is Canandra?!" Well, let me explain using this bio:**

 **Name: Canandra (opposite of Dracana; pronounced 'kah-nan-drah')**

 **Species: Half human-half bat (Kind of a minor mutant due to fangs and wings)**

 **Powers: Can run very fast, fly, retractable bat wings and fangs, has the ability to hear people far away, create high pitch sonic sounds (also known as echolocation), has an increase of strength, and fast healer.**

 **Weapons: Whip and sometimes katanas**

 **Gender: female**

 **Occupation: Villain (Clone of Dana)**

 **Personality: Manipulative, ingenious, devious, malevolent, dangerous, assiduous, and sly.**

 **Age: 15 (almost 16)**

 **Skills: more on Tae-Kwon-Do, but knows ninjutsu**

 **What she looks likes: almost pale looking skin, has long white straight hair, red eyes, black eyeshadow, and may look human but has the ability of a bat. (Looks exactly like Dana)**

 **Clothes: her outfit is a dark version of Dana's Dracana look. She wears a black ribbon like a headband tied around her head. She wears a red sleeveless that had some black on the shirt collar, a short sleeveless grey jean jacket with black buttons on both sides, and long dark gray skirt tied to a black belt around her waist where she wore a whip, and black colored granny boots. A pair of red and black bat wings stick out from her back occasional. Her accessories are a whit stripe like necklace around her neck, and two long black glovelettes on both arms with one silver bracelet on both wrists. She also wears a red velvet bat-like mask that give her appearance a mysterious vibe. (Mikey was the one who came up with the name)**

 **Likes: Manipulating people, messing with her enemies' minds, strongest warriors that might be easy to prompt, causing mayhem plus destruction, and crushing her enemies (mostly Dana).**

 **Dislikes: The Turtles plus their allies, seeing her enemies together, the turtles and the other good guys being happy (including Dana), and being called a failed experiment.**

 **Her story: Canandra was a clone experiment created by Baxter Stockman, using a small blood sample of Dana's, to help Shredder destroy the Turtles. When she first appeared, Canandra looked exactly like the real Dana. Especially the hair, wings, and eye color. Shredder assigned Canandra to hunt down the Turtles. When she left to do that, Canandra spotted Dana fighting some Kraang droids, with the turtles by her side. Canandra believed that there should be one minor mutant and wanted to get rid of Dana. So, when the Turtles weren't looking, Canandra knocked Dana out and trapped her in a crate somewhere at the docks. Canandra took Dana's place, and nobody suspected anything. That is, until Leo caught how mean and aggressive she was acting lately. Even Dana's little brother, Tommy, knew something was wrong. He noticed that his 'sister' didn't care on what he was up to, and didn't have her mother's necklace on her. Dana would never take it off. Then, Dana managed to get herself out and found the Turtles with the imposter. Next thing anyone knew, a fight broke down between the two minor mutant bat girls. The Turtles couldn't tell which was the real Dana. That is, until Leo spotted one of them with the necklace around her neck and figured it out. Once they got the real Dana, the Turtles questioned who the imposter was. Canandra answered who she was, who sent her, and attacked. During the fight, Canandra's hair, wings, and eyes slowly began to change (a permanent side effect Baxter didn't fix). From there, Mikey nicknamed her Canandra; which was 'Dracana' but rearranged plus an extra 'n' in it. Dana managed to give the final blow on Canandra, as payback for taking her identity and stuffing her in a crate. When Canandra escaped, Shredder became angry at her failer so much, that he threw her into Dimension X. The second time she returned (not to mention escaped Dimension X), Canandra seeked revenge on not only Dana and Turtles, but also Shredder. Her outfit was now changed into a darker version of Dracana's. She lured and placed each of the Turtles and Dana in a trap that nearly cost them their lives (similar to the Fourfold Trap episode, but slightly different). As a clone, Canandra was required with all of Dana's memories. Even the ones with the Turtles. She recalled the one mistake Dana made and thought of the perfect trap for her. Dana got trapped in a room called 'The Frozen Heart' where the walls were filled with air conditioners, releasing cold breezes that made the room feel like one was in Antarctica. Canandra came up with that trap because she knows that her enemy's weakness/fear is being 'cold hearted'. And the one-time Dana was coldhearted was around the Kraang invasion and day Leo was knocked out for three months. Plus, bats aren't the type of species to be in cold places. Canandra also thought of luring both Splinter and Shredder to her by capturing Karai (since they both love her as a daughter and stuff). Long story short, the Turtles and Dana managed to defeat Canandra, and sent her to a faraway dimension using one of the Kraang portable portals that Canandra kept around for an emergency, incase her trap didn't work. Since then, the Turtles and Dana never heard from her ever again…until now, that is.**

 **So, yeah, that's basically Canandra. I even made a drawing of her as part of a fanfiction cover for an old online friend of mine that represents her story. It's all in the Wattpad app by phones called "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. Chapter 14. Can't miss it.**

 **Speaking of drawings, I will be posting two new drawings of the two characters you've seen from this last part. Along with a better view of Yanagi's birthmark. So…make that three drawings.**

 **I even want to thank HK for helping me put this entire Bat Legend together. Especially how Yanagi should look. Totally owe her on that.**

 **Anyway, hope all of you enjoyed the story. The next chapter will be an original mini story called 'Tales of the Phantom and the Wolf'. And yes, they will involve LP's characters and reveal more about the Angel of Death. Something to look forward to. Stay tuned!**

 **TMNT Fan Forever**!


	4. Tales of the Phantom & Wolf (TMNT Story)

**Hey, everyone. Hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the long wait. I had a lot of school work to take care of. Along with some drawing requests. But mostly school stuff. I'm just happy that it's finally over.**

 **As you all know, this chapter will be somewhat of an original story. Only because after the Samurai Saga is the Turtle Tot episode. Since I can't use that one for various reasons, I'll be telling something else.**

 **I don't own anything except my characters, Dana and Tommy. Along with the parents, Drake and Simone Vontorez. The other two characters debuting here belong to Lewamus Prime 2017/2018** **.**

 **And LP, if you're reading this, please understand that I did my best on writing them.**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here is the next story. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Tales of the TMNT: Tales of the Phantom and the Wolf**

It was a calm evening in New York City. The turtles were just relaxing back at the lair. No signs of any villain activity. Not even the alien kind. Everything seemed to be like a quiet night with everyone sleeping peacefully.

…Well, everyone except for the bat heroine detective.

Dana was in her room, tossing and turning in her sleep. Ever since the Feudal Japan dimension experience she and the Turtles had no more than a week ago, Dana has been getting almost the same nightmares about it.

In her bad dreams, she would find herself walking through a foggy forest, hearing strange voices, and encountering scary beings that made her run away. First, Jei appears out of the shadows to make Dana his warrior puppet. Then, Canandra swoops in with the three-star whip that nearly hits Dana. Finally, what really terrified Dana the most, was seeing the blue masked turtle she had strong feelings for lying on the ground, severely damaged from behind. When she went down, hugging the lifeless turtle in tears, Dana heard maniacal laughter in front of her. Dana lifted her head to see Canandra, ready to vanquish her enemy at the spot. Too frightened, the bat detective closed her eyes tightly and prepared herself for the harsh impact.

Suddenly, she heard Canandra grunt and scream in pain. It caused Dana to open her eyes and see what happened. Turns out, Canandra was impaled by a weird clawed hand from behind that phased threw her, causing her to disappear into a puff of smoke and reveal who attacked the evil clone. There, standing before the bat detective, was a huge shadow with glowing yellow eyes and boney angel-like wings on his back. Though his face was unknown, Dana believed he was grimly smiling at the demise of her turtle friend.

"Why are you doing this, Shi-no-Tenshi?! What do you want from me!?" the bat detective shouted in distress.

Instead of answering, the shadow intruder revealed his monstrous mouth wide open and let out his high-pitched moan scream that made Dana cover her ears in pain. His scream was loud enough to make the bat detective's head spin. When she was stunned, the Shi-no-Tenshi walked towards her until he was close, raised his sharp clawed right hand, and brought it down to deliver the final blow.

When that happened, Dana immediately woke up in shock. Followed by a quick, light scream. She sat up from her bed, constantly breathing in and out with her heart beating faster than ever.

Suddenly, Dana's door opens, abruptly, to reveal her parents: Drake and Simone Vontorez. Drake was the older man with smoothed back hair and moustache in the light blue adult pajama. Simone was the older woman with short, neck length hair and wore a light eggplant colored sleepwear robe. Both had pale skin, black hair and eyes, like Dana.

"What is it? Where's the danger? Are you hurt?" Drake immediately asked, worried about his own daughter.

"Oh, Dana, you're sweating!" exclaimed Simone, moving towards Dana's bed until she sat down next to her. "Did you had another nightmare?" she questioned with concern, placing a hand on her daughter's forehead.

"…No, mom. I didn't," Dana calmly lied well, giving them a small smile and removing her mother's hand from her head, "I just woke up because…I felt a spider crawling on my face and freaked out."

Drake and Simone looked at each other, slightly confused, before looking at Dana.

"Are you sure? Because whatever is bothering you, we're here to listen," reasoned the bat heroine's mother.

Their daughter slowly nodded, looking down at her bed sheets. "I'm fine. It was nothing…Really," she answered, rubbing her neck sheepishly. "I'm just sorry for waking you and causing you to panic like that,"

Although reluctant, Drake and Simone didn't want to bother their eldest child anymore and let her get back to sleep. They trusted her completely. If she did ever feel scared about something, then Dana would tell them when she felt like it. After closing the door behind them and return to their room, Dana hugged her knees tightly while letting out a long sigh. Even though it seemed wrong to fib to her parents, she didn't want them involved nor in danger about what Dana was dealing with. And she already lost her parents, once, to the Kraang before. She couldn't bear to let that situation happen again.

"I'm sick of these terrible dreams about the Angel of Death tormenting me," Dana said to herself, out loud. "Whoever he is, I think it's safe to say that the Shi-no-Tenshi is no ally. Just a pure evil enemy plotting to destroy me and my friends."

She, then, laid down and closed her eyes to try to fall asleep once more. Little did she know, her little brother was outside her door, hearing the whole thing.

Tommy was Dana's eight-year-old younger brother. He had spiky hair and had the same features as the rest of his family on hair, eyes, and skin tone. He was wearing his Space Heroes jammies, at the moment.

He seemed concerned on his older sister's theory. There was something Tommy knew that Dana and the Turtles don't. So much, he decided to grab his T-Phone and make a quick late call. The young boy waited patiently while the phone rang.

"Come on, come on, pick up. Please, pick it up!" Tommy whispered, until he heard someone answering from the other line.

"Hello?" replied a half-tired, feminine voice.

"Hey, it's me. Sorry for the late call, but it's an emergency. Is Zack there?"

"Yeah, hang on. Let me put you on speaker phone," she said, before yawning. The line was quiet for a few second. "Okay. He's here."

"Hey, Tommy. What's up?" a male voice that was called Zack said, happy to hear from the young boy.

"We got a situation. My sister's been having nightmares about her last adventure for the past few nights, and they're getting worse," Tommy explained, "She's starting to believe you're a villain that's out to get her and the Turtles."

Once again, the phone line was dead silent. The two callers were obviously so stunned by the news, they had no idea how to respond back. Seeing that they're not replying back, Tommy decided to continue his call.

"I think…I think it's time they finally know about you two,"

A sigh was heard from one of the pair of voices Tommy was calling. "…I believe so, too," Zack finally answered. "But we're going to need a plan, first."

"Way ahead of you," Tommy said, smirking. "Here's what I got…"

* * *

The next day, Dana and Tommy were already at the Turtles' lair to hangout. The bat heroine spent her time with the Leader in Blue, sparring each other on some new moves and battle tactics. It was one of their favorite activities when being together. As for Tommy, he was enjoying some 'Space Heroes: The Next Generation' with Mikey and Raph. But the young boy had other plans in secret.

He felt his T-Phone vibrating and quickly checked to see a text message from Zack:

 _We're in position. Just waiting for your signal._

Tommy looked up from his phone to see two figures at the entrance, hidden in the shadows. Smiling, he shared a nod at them before getting up.

 _It's now or never,_ Tommy thought to himself, while turning off the TV using a remote. Causing his two Turtle friends to complain.

"Hey! Why'd you do that, little dude?" Mikey asked, not believing his best bud would stop at a suspenseful good part.

"Yeah, what gives?!" chimed Raph, slightly agitated about the episode being interrupted like that.

"I got something to share, and I want everyone here, right now" the little brother told them, before raising his voice loud enough for the whole group to hear him, "TURTLE MEETING AT THE LIVING ROOM, ON THE DOUBLE!"

It didn't take long for the others to arrive. Donnie quickly got out from his lab with Leo and Dana running out from the dojo.

"Is everything okay?" Dana questioned.

"You tell us. He's your brother," Raph retorted at the bat girl. "I would think it was something you both planned together."

"What's this all about, Tommy?" asked Leo.

Clearing his throat, Tommy spoke, "Gentle turtles and dear sister. There's someone I'd like you to meet. Or rather, _two_ friends I know I want you to meet,"

The Turtles and Dana looked at each other before glancing at Tommy, slightly confused and curious about what he was talking about. Just when one of them was about to say something, a teenage girl slides down from the entrance rail, does a 360 flip after doing a big jump, and sticks the landing.

She appeared to be at around the age of 18. had brown hair that was down to her waist, peach skin, and green eyes. Her attire was a black leather jacket, orange shirt, blue ripped jeans, and black boot with some yellow stripes from the top. As an accessory, she had a silver wolf hair piece on the left side of her head.

"Hiya! I'm Luna Daylen! Nice to meet ya," she told the Turtle group in a cool way, while grinning.

The Turtle Team just stared with their mouths opened, too shocked that Tommy would bring a human teenager in their secret, hidden lair! They had no idea what to say. Fortunately, it didn't take long for one of them to speak.

"What up, girl? I'm Michelangelo. Pleasure to meet a new friend of my little dude," Mikey finally replied with a grin and small hand wave, as if he was not bothered about the intruder.

"Uh, Tommy, who exactly is this stranger? And why is she in our home?" Leo asked, still bewildered and confused.

"Hey! Who you calling 'strange'?" offended Luna, folding her arms.

"Everyone, this is Luna," presented the Bat Detective's younger brother. "She's a mutant, just like you guys, that I met for a long while now."

Slightly curious, Donnie walked towards Luna and carefully examined her from a safe distance. "You sure? Because Luna doesn't look anything like an anthropomorphic mutant to me," simplified the Smart One.

"That's because I'm a _different_ kind of mutant," Luna explained. "I'll show you,"

Closing her eyes, the new girl in the lair slowly began to change before the Turtle team's very eyes. Her hair changed from brown to ashes black with a bit of grayish-silver. Her peach skin tone turned pale. Suddenly, she grew a pair of black wolf ears on her head, sharper canine teeth, longer finger nails, and a black wolf tail. After her transformation, Luna opened her eyes to reveal they've changed from green to pure hazel colored. She even placed her hands on her hips, smirking at the astounded turtles and bat heroine.

"You're…a minor mutant?!" exclaimed Dana, whom couldn't believe that she's meeting another person that's a little bit similar to the bat heroine's abilities.

"Somewhat, yes," admitted the wolf mutant girl.

"Whoa. She's like a werewolf! How cool is that?" Mikey replied, enthusiastically. "We need a wicked nickname for her. How about Wonder Wolf! Wait, no. Black Moon! Nah, too obvious and weird. Ooh, I know! Howlette!"

Luna giggled, while changing her appearance back to human, before saying, "I appreciate the different names, but I already got one from my boyfriend. It's Lu. I also go by Loboichi."

"Which brings me to the best for last person I want all of you to meet," spoke up Tommy, clearing his throat, once again, "Guys and sis, say hello to Zack," he finally said, waving his hand in front of his friends plus sister.

All of a sudden, a shadowy figure came out of the shadows behind the Turtle team. The Turtles and Dana were so startled that they jumped back, drew out their own weapons, and stood their ground by doing a battle stance.

The figure revealed to be a male teenager. He seemed to be around Luna's age, had wild black hair that was a bit long, and light brown skin tone. His face was angular, had sky/ocean eyes, and he had a long red scar on his right eye and a red shape fang under his left eye. For clothing, he wore a layered red t-shirt, a long sleeved black hooded jacket that reached the length of his ankles with red and teal blue flame prints on the sleeves and bottom part, dark blue jeans being picked up by a metal belt with a black buckle on it, and black sneakers with some blue metal guard on the front. His accessories were a pair of black gloves with a teal sphere located on top of each hand. He even carried a chain underneath his coat, as his weapon.

"Wow. I guess that's how you say 'hello' to new people, huh?" Zack spoke, slightly joking in his tone.

"You startled us from behind and came out of nowhere!" argued the Leader in Blue, keeping his glared gaze on him.

"It's called 'blending in the shadows," Zack, then, walked forward until he was next to Luna while talking to the Turtle team, "It's what a ninja does to be stealthy. I mean, don't you guys do it all the time, every night?"

"Holy chalupa! It's the Phantom Beast!" cried the Wild One, keeping his guard up with his nunchucks.

Dana remained silent. Although slightly terrified and confused on why her own brother would bring a minor mutant wolf and the Shi-no-Tenshi here, she felt a strange vibe on the ghost mutant named Zack. His human appearance felt so familiar to Dana, but she couldn't figure out why. It only made this Bat Detective curious than scared.

Tommy just moved in front of Zack and Luna, defending them from the Turtles. He wasn't going to give up on his plan.

"Guys, calm down. Zack is just a ghost mutant," expounded the young boy.

"Tommy, have you lost your mind?!" the Hothead yelled, very angrily, at Dana's little brother. "This is the same guy that's been torturing your sister!"

"Yeah. Dana's been going on about a shadow demon-like angel called the Shi-no-Tenshi following us almost everywhere, spying and figuring out how to wipe us all out!" added the Leader in Blue, secretly trying to protect the Bat Detective from this Ghostly Intruder.

"That's why I brought them here," Tommy told them. "Zack's not what you think. He and Luna are good mutants. They never meant to scare nor harm anyone."

"He's telling the truth. We were only trying to help all of you within the shadows," Luna clarified.

"And don't be so hard on Tommy because of us!" fortified Zack, pointing at the Turtles. "I can name a lot times when one of you four made mistakes that weren't so different and bad as this. Like the time Leo almost trusted Karai, before she discovered her real past and came to your side. Or the time Raph's former pet turtle, Spike, mutated into Slash and his mind went out of whack as he tried to kill Raph's brothers. And who could forget the time Donnie almost put April in harm because he was talking to Timothy about his crush issues that resulted the mutant blob to run loose and go after her?"

The Turtles just looked at one another before looking back at the two intruders. They had no clue on how to respond back because Zack knew a lot about them. And there was no way Tommy could have told him a few of those things since the Turtles never mentioned it to the young boy nor his big sister. These events happened _before_ Dana and Tommy knew the Turtles and vice versa.

"Even Mikey has messed up occasionally, and, to me, he's seems to be the only turtle to have better judgement than you three combined," continued Zack, waving his hand that was pointing at the Wild One. "At least, give me and Luna a chance to explain, first, before you do anything,"

Although hesitant, Leo looked at the girl he trusted to see what she thinks, before getting any ideas. Dana just nodded, as if saying 'I think we should give them a chance'. Once he got his feedback, the Leader in Blue unsheathed his katana blades with his brothers grudgingly doing the same.

They, then, settled down to hear the story behind the two new mutants. Dana sat next to Leo, for obvious reasons. Raph and Donnie sat on the same couch while Mikey sat on the floor with an eager look on his. As for Tommy, he stayed standing and moved next to Mikey.

"We used to be just two normal humans," Luna started, placing her hands on her back, "We had lives that were perfectly fine,"

"But, then, everything changed when the Kraang came along," added Zack, looking down on the ground with his fists clenched. "They destroyed everyone we ever cared about and took us as their little lab rats to experiment on,"

"The Kraang mutated me into this minor mutant wolf and made me their spy assassin to eliminate outsiders that were close to knowing what the Kraang were up to. Even injected me with some nano-tech to make me more powerful and dangerous. Luckily, I escaped through a portal that lead me straight to a park located somewhere in Asia,"

"Hang on, did you say you have nanites in your system?" asked Donnie. "As in actual, primitive molecular machines?"

"Yep. I can create any type of weapons out of my own body whenever I want," Luna explained, slightly proud of that, "I also required a sonic howl. Want to see?"

"Maybe another time, Lu," replied the mutant wolf's boyfriend, quickly stopping her. "Last thing we want is to break a lot of fragile items in here while making a good first impression."

"Oh, yeah. My bad," realized Luna, sheepishly rubbing her head on forgetting that detail.

"Anyway, my story began when I was ten years old," began the ghost mutant, "My parents were destroyed on the streets, one night. Back then, I had no idea who did this horrible deed. The police were no help. They didn't find any evidence or clues to the people or person that murdered my parents. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands,"

"And let me guess. It not only led you to the truth but it also got you captured and mutated in the process?" theorized the bat detective, considering she had heard and experience that event herself.

Zack lightly chuckled before saying, with a playful smirk, "Nothing gets past you, Miss Sherlock,"

This, of course, made Dana smile back. There was definitely something about Zack that seemed very familiar to her. She just couldn't place it.

"I spotted a group of strange men in suits and followed them," continued the Phantom Beast, "When I found out what they really were, I was too late. The Kraang took me to their top secured facilities in Dimension X. The time differential turned me two years older. They wanted to turn me into this ultimate weapon that could take care of any mutant or super mutant and follow the Kraang's every command. Eventually, I was dropped at some dangerous jungle-like planet where I had to learn how to survive and become stronger. Four years later, the Kraang picked me up so they could finally do the experiment they had planned just for me. They used their ooze and mixed it with what looked like ectoplasm. Let's just say that what happened after, things didn't go so well…for the Kraang,"

"So, how did you escape from Dimension X to back here?" questioned Leo, "And how did you two met?"

"Along with knowing us?" added Raph, glaring at the two while folding his arms.

"And my brother aware of your existence?" furthered Dana.

"We were just getting to all of that," assured Zack. "After awakening from my mutation, I became this giant, freaky, ghost mutant. I was like a totally different person. Or creature. Whatever I was, I seemed to be fueled with rage and hate on those who tortured me. During my destruction on countless Kraang, I found one of their portable dimension portals and took my leave. Once I was back to my home dimension, my raging form slowly diminished into my sort of, normal self again,"

He took a small pause and closed his eyes, thinking about that faithful day. Luna placed a caring hand on the Ghost Mutant's shoulder.

"I became a bit shocked at my new appearance, but I soon got the hang of it, over time," he self-proclaimed, finally opening his eyes and explaining with a positive tone. "I spent the rest of my new life training and practicing my personal Martial Arts skills. Even got the hang of my new ghost mutant powers...including my Black-Ghost form," he finished.

"What's that? Some kind of super, ultimate power level to take down scary bosses?" asked Mikey, whom seemed a bit interested on this subject.

"Something like that," answered Tommy, whom was facing the Wild One. "Zack's Black-Ghost form is this awesome yet terrifying ghost-like mutant that can scare the pizza out of you with just one look. Imagine a space alien and a ghost had a baby, and that baby grew up to be the Black-Ghost!"

"You've seen him turn into that thing before?" Donnie questioned the bat detective's little brother.

"Only once, but it was so worth it!" he confessed, super pumped.

"Although impressive and powerful," pointed out Luna, trying to remind the young boy, "Zack's second form is only to be used for absolute emergencies. It's not just for show,"

"Yeah, I know," Tommy said, slightly annoyed about that.

"I remembered, during my time being captured, overhearing the Kraang talking about you guys as their enemies," continued Zack, moving on to his backstory, "Along with some other mutants that were close allies of yours. I decided to check on you, from a distance, and help within the shadows,"

"Around there, I went from Asia to New York to get away from my horrible life," replied Luna, whom shared a sweet smile to the Phantom Beast, "My first meet with Zack happened downtown in the middle of a forest from the streets, yet, not so far from central park. Although I was new in the city, I felt something off about Zack and decided to take a look,"

"Of course, as I recall from our first encounter, I sensed you following me and defended myself from whoever was hot on my tracks," furthered Zack, returning the wolf mutant's affections back with a suave smirk.

It earned a small chuckle out of the Loboichi and a light punch on the Phantom Beast's right arm.

"During our small battle, Zack questioned why I followed him. I told him that I kept noticing how lonely he was. Even live sometimes either on the streets or forests. Once he heard my answer, Zack and I stopped fighting, got to know each other, and became partners,"

"And together, since then, we became the best duo in our objective of protecting you five," concluded Zack, slowly holding his girlfriend's hand with Luna doing the same.

The Wolf and Phantom Beast, then, shared a small kiss, which caused a lot of reactions to the Turtle team. Leo and Donnie were stunned, Dana and Mikey giggled, and Raph just groaned in disgust. As for Tommy, he was being dramatically grossed out about it and covered his eyes.

"AW, EWWW! Save the mushy, lovey-dovey stuff for the tree!" gagged Tommy, which made his big sister cover her own mouth from letting out a small laugh.

"I think it's sweet how Zack and Luna first met," Dana spoke, giving her honest opinion. It made her happy to see two mutants love each other so much that they both fought for what was right. The Bat Detective only wished that she was more open to her feelings to the Leader in Blue like them.

"Thank you," acknowledged the Mutant Wolf.

"Ugh, these new mutants both sicken me. Even before the kissing," groaned the Hothead.

"Raph!" scolded the Bat Detective, giving him a glare.

"No, no. It's fine, Dana," spoke the Phantom Beast in a reasonable tone and raising his right hand, "Raph is just jealous that I'm spending a lot of time with my Loboichi girlfriend and he isn't with his Salamandrian Lady,"

After hearing that, Mikey and Tommy couldn't hold back their laughs on Zack's comment. It caused the Hothead of the team to blush red and turn around with no comment.

"Ooooh, somebody just got burned," teased the Wild One, still laughing.

"Big time!" agreed Tommy, whom shared a fist bump with Mikey.

"Shut up!" snapped Raph, still hiding the small tint of red in his cheeks that only made the two younger brothers' laugh more.

Luckily, a certain minor mutant bat cleared her throat with a stern look on the chuckling boys, indicating a signal to tell them to stop. Once they saw plus heard that, Mikey and Tommy calmed down and stopped.

"So, from every weird event we've encountered in nearly all of our missions, that was you?" questioned Leo, trying to change the subject of Raph getting egged all over his face.

As the Leader in Blue recalled from Dana's past experiences with him and his brothers, there were predicaments that seemed impossible. Like around the farmhouse, for example. When Dana was being cornered by a giant mutant plant monster called the Creep and about to get her energy drained, she heard a weapon impaling the Creep to the wall. She saw that it was a spear that stopped it, along with a shadow with eyes glowing yellow from behind. Before Dana could get a better look, the shadow vanished before her very eyes.

Another time was when Dana was under Shredder's control with that brainworm inside her head. She, Raph and half of the Mighty Mutanimals were forced to fight their own friends. Even Dana's best friend, Macy-also goes by Black Rebel-was part of the action in helping the Turtles to snap the others out of it. While the Turtles battled their mind controlled companions, Black Rebel was busy fighting Dracana. The Rebellious Brunette thought for sure that she would end up as a goner, if it weren't for a strange miracle that mysteriously got the Bat Detective to spit out the parasite by yelling in rage, 'Get out of her mind, you disgusting parasite!', before falling unconscious in the end. Though slightly confused and couldn't remember exactly what happened, Dana believed someone or something possessed her own body to fuel her anger in order to force the brainworm out by pain. It was also that day Dana did some research and believed it was the legendary Shi-no-Tenshi who helped.

There were also other times that were mysterious yet somewhat helpful during the Turtles and Dana's mission in space to save their world from the Triceratons. One where Leo and Dana kept hearing a voice in their head on that corrupted planet where the Aeon's lived plus where the first piece of the black hole generator was located. Dana and Leo argued at each other until they felt a cold touch on them and both heard a gentle voice echo in their minds saying, 'This planet is testing your emotions by unleashing your hate, rage, and aggression. Don't let it consume your minds, and remember why all of you are here. For your friends, family, and the world you must save.'. It helped them calm down and finally understand, causing both Dana and Leo to apologize to each other.

"That is correct," answered Zack, nodding his head. "Luna and I thought it would be best that we stayed in the shadows because we believed some of the people in this world weren't ready to know our existence. Including mutants, like yourselves, who want to defend this city."

"I'm usually helping Zack on his secret missions by being either his look out or stealth surveillance partner," promoted Luna. "But he's done a lot of solo missions that I cannot follow."

"Okay, we get the whole backstory, how you know us, and why you two lovebirds did what you did, but there's still one thing I want to know," spoke Raph, before pointing at Dana's little brother. "How and when the heck did Tommy know your secret?"

All four turtle brothers, along with the bat detective, looked at the young boy, inquisitively. The Hothead had a good question. The tension put Tommy on the spot so much that he laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"Funny story," Tommy began, trying to figure out the right words, "I kind of, sort of met Zack and Luna around the time you guys were out on that spiritual refinement in the woods, during our stay at the farmhouse. I was collecting some more logs for April's kick practices, late at night. While I was doing that, I thought I saw something sped past me. It looked like a wolf. Soooo I decided to check it out by going deeper into the woods, fell down a steep hill in the process, and almost ended up as bear food," he said that last part super-fast.

"WHAT?!" was the only thing the Turtles and Dana could say simultaneously, in shock, as if having a hard time believing all of this. Especially the Bat Detective. She was at the farmhouse that time because Dana wasn't a kunoichi to join the Turtles on their Vision Quest.

"Seriously? You were attacked by a bear?! How did I miss that!?" panicked Dana, pressing her hands on her head.

"Relax. That bear didn't lay a single scratch on him, thanks to us," explained Luna. "Once we saw Tommy in trouble, Zack and I knew we had to do something."

"As I remember correctly, the bear took one look at me in my Black Ghost form and made a run for it," added Zack, giving Luna another sweet smirk.

"I'll admit, I was surprised and shocked when I first met them," Tommy replied, honestly. "But I knew they were good because they saved me from becoming bear chow. Once Zack and Luna explained to me their side of the story, they asked me to keep them a secret from you guys until we figured out a way to know one other."

Although he wouldn't admit it, Zack was surprised himself to have met Tommy. The young boy was the first human who wasn't terrified of the Phantom Beast's scariest form. He actually thought Zack was cool when becoming that. An experience the Angel of Death could never forget.

"After agreeing our little promise, I gave Tommy a piggyback ride back to the farmhouse before anyone realized he was missing," concluded Zack. "We were able to keep in touch, since then."

"So, now that you all know about Zack and Luna…is it okay if they can stay here in the lair?" Tommy immediately asked.

"Whoa, hang on. What did you just say?" Leo spoke, not sure if he heard the young boy right when talking slightly fast.

"Tommy asked if Luna and I could live with you guys, seeing that you no longer see us as a threat," reasoned the Phantom Beast.

"We definitely could use a new place where it's not so dusty and rundown," replied Luna.

The Turtles and Dana looked at each other, once again. Thinking the same thing, they stood up, huddled together, and quietly discussed on the decision together.

"Guys, Dana, what do you think? Zack and Luna don't seem to be evil, but should we trust them enough to let them stay here?" questioned Leo.

"They're stories definitely seem probable," started out Donnie. "The Kraang are crazy enough to experiment and torcher other living specimens just to get what they want to accomplish in mutating the earth. Zack and Luna couldn't possibly make up tales like that."

"I don't care who or what they are. We shouldn't be inviting nor letting any strange new mutants in our home! They could be way more dangerous than all the other evil super mutants we've encountered," Raph objected and reasoned.

"No way, dude, Zack and Luna are too awesome to be super villains," Mikey replied. "Besides, Tommy was trying to protect them the same way we protect others. If he thinks they're off the chain, then so do I."

The female heroine was lost in her own thoughts. She thought back on every intense event that has ever happened. If Zack never helped, who knows what could have happened? Dana would remain as a puppet with her best friend as a goner back there during the evil Mutanimal control incident. Or became plant food for the Creep at the farmhouse. Or who knows what else.

The Leader in Blue looked at the Bat Detective, whom has not said anything yet. "You've been very quiet, Dana. What do you think?"

Thinking it over, Dana let out a small sigh before answering, "Guys, I think I was wrong about Zack earlier. He and Luna deserve a chance to be trusted."

"Seriously?! Even after your little brother lied and kept such a huge secret from us? Including you?" exclaimed Raph, not believing she's agreeing with all of this.

"Tommy was trying to keep their identities from getting out in order to keep them safe," reasoned the Bat Detective. "And I can actually relate because I was the same when first becoming Dracana. Of course, he hid it more well than I did with mine."

Secretly, Leo had to agree with Dana. Zack actually saved his and Dana's relationship during their mission in space. Not to mention saved her life on times Leo could not. Plus, Leo and his brothers have learned over time that not all people are bad. Even before having some small guidance from the girl Leo had always admired.

"Well, I still don't trust them. We don't even know how they fight or what other surprises they have," admitted Raph.

"Hmmm. I think I might have an idea," spoke Leo.

After a few minutes of talking, the Turtles and Dana went to the two new guests with their answer.

"Okay. Zack, Luna, we talked it over and propose a deal," started Dana.

"If one of you can beat us on a one-on-one sparring match, then you both can stay in the lair with them," Leo finished.

"And you have to use your fighting skills only" added Raph, pointing at them. "No ghost possessing, techno-whatchamacallits, or any kind of secret powers that could easily beat us! Just some good old fashion weapon and hand-to-hand techniques."

"Not a problem," answered Zack, whom seemed fine with the idea by showing a smile. "I'll be sure to play as fair as you five when taking what I know in the training hall."

Seeing that they agree, Leo and Zack shook hands before everyone moved inside the dojo.

* * *

Few minutes later, the group was preparing for the match. Raph, Mikey, Donnie, Dana, Tommy, and Luna were sitting down at the corner to watch. Leo was standing in the middle between the two fighters: Mikey and Zack. They were both in a battle stance, glancing seriously at each other.

"Alright. Let's make this an honorable fight," Leo spoke. "The goal is to knock down your opponent in order to win."

Taking a few steps back, the Leader in Blue began the match by saying "Hajime!".

"Booyakasha!" yelled Mikey, who made the first move by lunging plus swinging his nunchucks around.

Zack easily dodged all of the Wild One's nunchuck skills and moves. It was like he wasn't trying to fight back nor use his weapon. He only kept avoiding every single blow while moving a safe distance from the youngest turtle.

Just then, Mikey activated his kusarigama chain and threw it at the Phantom Beast.

Turns out, that was a mistake.

Zack grabbed the chain with his right hand, pulled it back-which caused Mikey to get pulled towards his opponent- and punched the Wild One with his left fist! That blow was so hard that Mikey was seeing stars before passing out.

Some of the Turtles, along with Dana and her brother, cringed at watching Mikey get pounded so hard.

"You okay, Mikey?" called out Tommy.

"I'm good, little dude," answered a still dazed Ninja Turtle Warrior, lifting his right index finger up while lying on his shell. He was still gasping for air on that maneuver hit.

Lightly smirking, Zack lend down a hand and helped Mikey up. "I gotcha, buddy," he, then, got Mikey to move where the others were in order to catch his breath. "So, I'm guessing that's a win for me?" questioned the Phantom Beast to the Leader in Blue.

"Seems like it," Leo turned to his turtle brother in purple. "Donnie, you're up."

Although slightly hesitant, the Smart Aleck gulped before getting up and going to the battle ring. Before starting the match, Zack picked up the nunchucks Mikey dropped.

"Hey, Mikey, is it okay if I borrow these for the next round?"

"Sure, Phantom Beast brah. Just be sure to give them back," Mikey answered from across the room, totally laying back.

Once the next round began, Zack jumps forward. This made Donnie yelp before making a side flip to get some more distance. The Ghost Mutant kept using Mikey's nunchucks against Donnie. The Smart Turtle tried to hit back by swinging his bo staff, only for him to miss with every attempt when Zack kept moving away from side to side.

Next, Zack whacked Donnie up top his head plus shoulder, after making a jump on the Dojo Tree to give Zack a boost over his opponent.

Finally, Zack activated the kusarigama chain to wrap Donnie's legs and, with a quick yank, make him trip.

"Yame!" spoke Leo.

After getting untied, Donnie walked back to where he was sitting. Zack returned Mikey his nunchucks and picked up the bo staff. Seeing that familiar look in his eyes, Donnie knew what Zack was about to say.

"Go ahead," spoke the Smart Aleck.

Smiling, Zack gave the staff a few spins while being in a battle stance. "Okay! Who's next?"

"I am," Raph stood up and walked to the center. He took out his sais while twirling them. "You might have won the first two rounds, but let's see what you got when fighting me," the Hothead spoke, confidently.

"May the best man or turtle win," Zack said, lightly smirking.

 _Oh, this should be interesting,_ thought Dana. She and Leo were both keeping a close eye on Zack's moves. They tried to study him in order to find a way to beat the Phantom Beast…if one of them can.

When the match began, Zack was outwitting Raphael using strength and speed. He used Donnie's bo staff to block Raph's double sai attack and thrusted it in his stomach, shoulder, and forehead. This got the Hothead to go a few steps back and rub on the parts of his body that were hit.

"What's the matter, Raph? Can't handle a few stick moves?" teased Zack.

Starting to lose his temper, Raphael yelled before going full speed to ram his opponent. Which was exactly Zack had planned all along. Before he could even touch him, Zack leaped over behind Raph and watched him smack face first to the dojo tree. This got him distracted long enough for Zack to chokehold Raph around his neck that got the Hothead trapped. As hard as he tried, Raph couldn't seem to get out of Zack's strong grip.

"Gah! All right, already!" Raph tried to say while trying to breath for air, "You made your point! ...I'm done! Just…let go!"

Seeing that his opponent yielded, much to everyone's shock, Zack released Raph and watched him lightly cough with his knees to the ground. The Hothead, then, shot a glare at the Phantom Beast, whom was kind of grinning.

Eventually, after standing up, Raph extended his hand to Zack and said, "Not bad…for a ghost boy."

"Thanks," Zack shook hands with Raph, as if saying 'good fight'. "You're not so bad yourself…for a quick-tempered reptile."

Chuckling, Raph gave Zack his sais and grabbed Donnie's staff before going back to his seat. "Good luck fighting him, Fearless. You're gonna need it," remarked the Hothead to his older brother.

And so, it all came down to this epic battle: Leo against Zack. These two warriors kept their eyes locked to each other's, waiting for one of them to make a move. The Leader in Blue felt confident about Zack with Raph's sais. He's seen plus fought his Hotheaded brother before. Even studied what Zack has got so far. If Leo could handle/occasionally beat Raph, then he believed that he might have a chance.

From a distance, a certain Bat Detective looked slightly worried. Even though she wanted to go after Raph, Leo insisted that he'd go instead so Dana could go last. The Bat Detective knew that the Leader in Blue was only trying to keep her safe and wait until he could actually trust the Phantom Beast.

Seeing the concern in her eyes, Luna looked over to Dana and said, with an assuring tone, "Don't worry. Zack's not gonna hurt Leo. He's going as easy on fighting him as the others by holding back."

Although slightly unsure, Dana felt a small familiar hand on her arm and saw her little brother giving a supporting nod; as if saying 'she's right, sis. Just relax'. It made the Bat Detective lightly smile before looking back to the sparring match that already began.

Zack kept using his own reflexes and speed to dodge Leo's sword swings. While doing a tuck and roll on another escape, Zack twirled Raph's sais and readied himself for what he was about to do. Leo brought down one of his katana blades down at the Phantom beast, only to get his arm caught by the sais and flipped over Zack's shoulder. Although Leo landed from being thrown across the dojo, Zack was able to attain his katana and put away his previous weapons.

"Now it's time to even the odds," Zack said, pointing the katana at his opponent.

 _Okay, maybe I underestimated my opponent more than I realized,_ pondered Leo, whom was still keeping his guard up.

Both of the opponents, then, get locked in a katana sword fight. Their weapons clashed to each other's, doing whatever it took to overpower their competition. Eventually, after disarming his second katana by knocking it hard enough to fly to a wall, Zack made a quick sweep on Leo's feet to make him fall. Once the Leader in Blue had his shell on the rugged floor, he got up halfway to see the Phantom Beast point the katana at him.

Seeing who won, Leo smiled and said, "Idaina supā."

"Ore wa saikō kara mananda," Zack answered back, lowering his hand to help Leo up.

The two of them bowed at each other, telling one another 'good game/fight'. Zack pulled the katana from the wall out and gave both blades back to its rightful owner.

"Well, looks like you won fair and square. Guess you and Luna will be staying with us," spoke the Leader in Blue.

"Um, not so fast. Aren't you forgetting someone?" the Phantom Beast asked, pointing at a certain minor mutant bat.

Everyone turned their heads at Dana, causing her to feel a little uncomfortable.

"From our deal, I was supposed to defeat all _five_ of you in a one-on-one sparring match," he reminded crossing his arms. "Which means I haven't won anything yet."

Technically, Leo didn't forget about Dana. He was kind of hoping Zack would just let the bat heroine off the hook after going through a lot lately. Of course, Leo knew that he and the others did agree on each of them going against the Phantom Beast. That included Dana.

Lightly sighing in defeat, Leo signaled Dana to come up in the ring. He watched the Bat Detective step in the center with determination in her eyes. A pair of brave, midnight colored eyes the Leader in Blue admired. He wondered if he was doing the right thing.

Before going to where his brothers were, Leo felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Zack whisper to him, "I'm aware you're afraid that I might hurt your friend on this match, but you should know that I'm only going as gentle on my moves as possible. The last thing I want is to injure Dana…And you've seen that by now," he guaranteed.

"Okay," Leo responded, only loud enough for Zack to hear. He went to the center with Zack following. The Phantom beast also gave Raph back his sais before returning to the sparring match.

"All right, Zack, what kind of weapon or weapons will you be using this time? Leo's twin katanas?" guessed the Bat Detective, already in a battle stance with her whip ready. She's been studying his battles long enough to notice a pattern that whenever he defeats his opponent, he uses their weapons to fight the next one.

"That would be an obvious choice, but I think I'll go with my own weapon this time," Zack reached into his coat to reveal a long chain made of hard iron that has a hook bladed spear in the end. "Considering you already had past experiences with katana sword fights before. Seemed too easy."

Dana couldn't help but chuckle. She became impressed on Zack changing the pattern to overthrow her previous theories and techniques the Bat Detective had planned for a while. But that doesn't mean she was gonna drop out.

"Let's do this," the bat girl said.

"Hajime!" Leo immediately spoke, giving the two opponents some room to fight.

Dana starts by using a whip attack. Zack blocks it with the help of his chain blade. Then, he whirled his chain around and released it towards Dana. The Bat Heroine, with the help of her minor mutant abilities, was fast enough to make a big leap forward to above the hurdling weapon and try to knock the Phantom Beast down with a roundhouse kick. Zack, however, was fast enough to dodge that by doing a backflip. The two opponents soon became locked in hand-to-hand combat, regarding their weapons at the very moment. It lasted nearly a minute.

Soon, Dana threw another side thrust kick. This time, Zack caught it and tripped Dana's grounded leg. Just when she was about to hit the ground, Dana released her bat wings and flew a few inches off the floor before landing on her own two feet.

"I'm not going down that easily," responded Dana, smirking while in a battle stance.

"Neither am I," countered Zack, whom was smiling as well.

Knowing one of them as to win, Dana and Zack lunge at each other, full speed. At the very last second, Zack slides beneath Dana-whom was flying-uses his chain to tie her bat wings, and strongly yank his opponent back. This caused Dana to get pulled back hard enough and yelp.

She was expecting to hit a hard, rugged floor. But, instead, she felt like someone had their arms around her. Curious, Dana slowly look up to see Zack supporting her and gently putting her down on the ground. It was clear Dana had lost with Zack as the victor.

"Nice sparing match, Dana. You did pretty well," admitted Zack.

Giggling, Dana got up and said, "Thanks. Same to you."

Then, Zack looked up to the others saying, " _Now_ I won fair and square. Thank you for this honorable fight." He even bowed respectfully at the team.

"Woohoo! That's my Ghosty!" cheered Luna.

"Way to go, Zack! Nice game!" applauded Tommy.

Without warning, the minor mutant wolf got up and gave her ghost boyfriend a hug. Followed by a few kisses on the cheek. Which, obviously, grossed out the Bat Detective's little brother.

From a distance, Leo walks next to Dana and watch Zack enjoying his kissing rewards from Luna. "You okay?" he asked the Bat Detective.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Dana questioned.

"Because you just finished a fight with the Shi-no-Tenshi, face to face," Leo looked down, rubbing the back of his head. "I thought…I thought from all the weird things that's been going on involving Zack and Luna, you didn't want to fight Zack. Especially after having nightmares about him," he explained.

Looking at the Leader in Blue's eyes, the Bat Detective placed her right hand on his left shoulder while giving him a thoughtful smile. "Leo, this is exactly why I wanted to fight Zack. I had to face my fears head on and see he's not who nor what I thought. Besides," she, then, looked at the Phantom Beast with curiosity, "there's something about him that's so familiar."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, I feel like we've met before. Like…from a very, very long time ago," Dana placed a hand on her chin, trying to figure out this tiny mystery.

* * *

Moments later, everyone went from the dojo to Donnie's lab. The Smart Turtle was examining the Phantom Beast to check what other secrets he had within his DNA. He became curious ever since watching how Zack was using unpredictable moves that seemed a little similar to not just his own and his brothers, but also a few allies plus enemies.

Donnie also plans that, after checking Zack, he'll do a similar checkup on Luna. He always wanted to see what a mutant with nanites looked like in real life. Even later on test her nanite powers one of these days.

Zack was sitting on the table with Donnie checking his heartbeat with a stethoscope. The Phantom Beast had to take off his jacket so the Smart Turtle could examine his body better. He still had his shirt on.

As for everyone else, they were all standing around looking at Donnie and his patient.

"Fascinating. I'm not hearing a single heartbeat in you," deduced the Smart Turtle, setting the stethoscope aside. "This definitely confirms that whatever the Kraang did to you, it turned your DNA into a half dead, undead mutational being,"

"Whoa, so weird…And awesome!" replied Mikey.

"I know, right?" exclaimed Tommy, looking at the Wild One before back at Zack.

Then, Donnie brought out his syringe and said, "Okay, Zack, I'm going to take a small sample of your blood to scan your DNA. It might hurt for a little while, so try to stay calm."

"I will, but you might be surprised on what you find," warned Zack, bringing up his arm for Donnie take the sample.

Luna just nodded in agreement.

Once Donnie got what he wanted, he went to work.

And Zack slipped his jacket back on.

While everyone was waiting for the results, a few of the Turtles were looking at Zack with inquisitive expressions on them.

"Tell us, Ghost Boy. Of all the times to show up here, why now?" spoke up the Hothead.

The Phantom Beast shared a look at Luna, then at Tommy-whom both nodded their heads. Sighing while lowering his head a little, he answered Raph's question.

"Last night, Luna and I got a call from Tommy. He told us about Dana's rough nights that involved the time she, along with the rest of you, stuck in that Feudal Japan dimension and how worse they started to become," Zack eventually lifted his head to face Dana with remorseful eyes. "So bad, that I felt guilty about it. I never meant to hurt nor scare any of you. That's the last thing I want…Especially to Dana."

The Bat Detective couldn't believe her ears. All the times in the past few days where she thought the Shi-no-Tenshi was a ruthless monster with no conscious, Dana never realized until now the Angel of Darkness was actually just the opposite. She actually felt bad that she let a bunch of silly dreams cloud her judgement on the truth behind the ghost mutant.

"Why does Dana matter so much to you?" questioned the Leader in Blue.

"Let's just say an old friend with someone is a friend of mine, no matter how much Little Miss Sherlock has got," he answered, using his right thumb to point at the bat heroine.

When she heard that nickname, Dana's eyes grew wide in shock. It felt like an old memory was coming back to her. She studied Zack's face more carefully. Then, it finally hit her.

"It…It can't be," Dana gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "Zackery? Zackery Masaoyoshi Orion?! Is that really you?"

"Who else?" smirked the Phantom Beast.

"Hang on a second. Are you saying you and Dana have met before?!" asked Tommy, whom was equally surprised as the Turtles.

"In a way, yes. Zack and I used to be good friends back when we were little kids," Dana explained. "He was like an older brother to me. But then, I heard the news that Zack's parents were killed and assumed Zack was, as well," the bat heroine slowly cried tears of joy when facing Zack. "Looks like you were alive after all this time,"

"I figured you'd remember me sooner or later. It's hard for me to think my oldest, best friend would end up as a minor mutant super heroine at night with ninja turtles on her side,"

"Speaking of minor mutants, does that mean you're one, too?" furthered Mikey. He then gasped when thinking of another question, "Wait…Are you like some full-on super mutant?"

"Technically, besides my Black-Ghost form, I can also go as my regular ghost form," Zack explained.

"Can you please show us?" asked Dana.

Although a little reluctant, Zack decided to do that. Slowly breathing, Zack concentrated deeply by closing his eyes and start to transform. His hair turned from black to snowy white, and his skin became light teal blue with a few black lines running all over his body. Even the two red marks on both crossing his eyes has turned black. Zack's clothing started to change, as well. His layered red t-shirt became grey and was ripped around the stomach region to reveal not just his teal skin but also an exposed ribcage. Along with an exposed spine backbone due to a hole on his back. The long sleeved black hooded jacket had some major rips on the upper right shoulder, right elbow, back, and left ribcage, along with the sleeves and two tails that reach the ankles torned to give a ghostly vibe. The flame prints on the sleeves and bottom part were now a neon green, his dark blue jeans had a huge hole on where his right knee is, and black sneakers that now had some neon green similar to the color of his ghostly formed jacket. His black gloves were now metal gauntlets that required neon green claws with a black sphere and tiny diamond-like green in the very center located on top of each hand. Finally, Zack opened his eyes to show that they went from sky blue to dark green.

Once his transformation was complete, the Turtles and Dana were slightly horrified. Tommy, on the other hand, was more amazed at his appearance.

"Cool," the Bat Detective's brother replied in awe.

Raph almost released a loud girly scream but yelped and looked disgusted instead, Donnie felt like throwing up when seeing Zack's exposed ribcage and spine backbone, Mikey screamed and hugged Raph in fear-only to get pushed off-Leo just stared in complete shock, and Dana reacted in distress by grabbing Tommy and covering his eyes.

"Hey! Dana, come on! Why are you covering my face?! I've already seen it before and his ghost form is kind of awesome!" protested Tommy, trying to get her hands off his black eyes.

"I know my appearance may seem a little…frightening. But I've already explained before that I would never harm any of my closes friends," assured Zack, slightly ashamed.

Dana covered her own mouth in shock, nearly crying. At first, she was scared, but knew that it's really her oldest best friend. She even felt sad for him. Dana saw so much pain in the ghost mutant. He's suffered so much, hiding in the shadows because he feared that people would treat him like a horrible monster, and used to be all alone when his family was destroyed.

"I'm half alive and half dead. A horrible mutation that feels like a curse," continued Zack. Suddenly, Zack's eyes turned red with the sclera becoming black, lightly growling in rage. "IT'S ALL THE KRAANGS' FAULT FOR RUINING MY LIFE AND TURNING ME INTO THIS!" he snarled in a demonic voice, making everyone take a step back in fright.

By instinct, Luna calmed Zack down by hugging and rubbing his exposed back. "Shhh, it's okay, Zack. The Kraang are gone. I'm right here for you," hushed the wolf mutant, causing the Phantom Beast's face to soften before taking a deep breath.

"You're right, Lu," spoke Zack, now relaxed and his eyes back to green. He faced the Turtle team and said, "Please forgive my sudden outburst. I occasionally suffer from a split personality disorder that comes and goes. One of the side effects in my mutation," he softly explained.

"It's alright. We understand," spoke Leo, walking back to Zack with the others doing the same. "Just be glad you don't have to deal with the Kraang anymore,"

"Yeah, dude. You and Luna are totally safe, now," added Mikey. "Besides, you two are like the coolest mutants I've ever met so far!"

This got Zack to smile and let out a small chuckle. "Thanks, Mikey."

"Hey, Zack! Can you show them your wings next?" asked Tommy.

Nodding his head, Zack revealed a pair of bony wings that sprouted out of his back. The team-minus Tommy-seemed a bit grossed out by the black slime that was oozing and covering them. They eventually got over it and studied the wings better.

Just then, Donnie's computer let out a small beeping noise to inform the Inventive Turtle that the results of Zack's DNA were done. While he goes to the computer to check what he found, the rest of the team noticed something about the bony wings that seemed oddly familiar.

It wasn't long before Dana figured out why. "Zack, not to be rude, but your wings look a lot like _mine_ ," she pointed.

"That's crazy! How could Ghost Boy have your wings when he's only a ghost mutant?" exclaimed Raph.

"Holy Toledo! I think I might know," cried Donnie, eyes wide in shock when looking at his computer. "According to these blood tests, Zack has every DNA particle merged into him that are from many mutants and aliens we've encountered. Including ours!"

The news made everyone but Zack and Luna gasping.

"Yeah, I was going to mention sometime that the Kraang had this advanced super computer that not only had data of your skills, but also bio cells from every single mutant and or creature they've either studied from a safe distance or went up against and put it all in this special ooze they injected me with as part of their plans in making me their ultimate weapon," explicated Zack.

"How the heck did they possibly managed that?!" queried Leo, still surprised on all of this information.

"Flea-sized insect camera bots," answered Luna, firmly. "They were made not too long after the Kraang discovered you guys. Even imprisoned a lot of mutants before you and Metalhead freed them,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! So what you're saying is…Zack is our brother?!" Mikey probed, eagerness in his tone.

"Technically, 'half-brother'," corrected the Phantom Beast.

"This is so awesome!" Tommy exclaimed, "The coolest ghost mutant is half-related to us! I always wanted a big brother!"

"Same here," chuckled the Bat Detective.

Eventually, after Zack switched from ghost form back to his normal human form, the Turtle team got to know a little more about Zack and Luna. Along with which abilities and personality traits Zack acquired, due to the mixed DNAs that were transferred in his system. The Phantom Beast and Wolf explained that he has Donnie's intelligently and knowledgeable expertise, Leo's leadership and learning skills, Raph's anger and strength, Mikey's goofiness and unpredictable instincts, Dana's detective and strategic skills, Splinter's peace and wisdom, the Shredder's hatred and aggression, April's understanding and adapting, Tigerclaw's ferocious and relentless behavior-which, to Zack, is never ending-even Leatherhead's and Newtralizer's hatred to the Kraang combined together.

That last bit explained so much to the Turtles and Dana on why Zack made an outburst like that earlier.

Zack even clarified that he can mimic other mutants or creatures by making close contact with them. Such as the Creep, Triceratons, Kavaxas, and so on.

"So if you had Donnie's intelligences to whole time, why haven't you made a retro-mutagen that could cure you and your wolf girlfriend?" asked Raph.

"Because we're not normal mutants," prompted Zack, lightly frustrated about the fact. "Our genetic code is so unique that we're permanently stuck this way. It's like Karai, but slightly worse,"

The Bat Detective walked over to Zack and placed a caring hand on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Zack…For everything," she apologized.

The Phantom Beast turned to his oldest friend, giving her an understanding smile. "Don't be. None of this is your fault, Dana. If there's anything good that came out of this mess, it's I was able to protect the friends who are considered family to me."

"Still, I feel bad that I thought you were some evil ghost trying to destroy us back in that Feudal Japan dimension,"

"That reminds me, how did you end up there? I thought Jei only summoned the five of us as his puppets," Leo cross-examined Zack.

"He did. Before you were transported there, I sensed a weird energy surrounding one of you and, while I was invisible, hitched a ride by grabbing your shoulder before disappearing. Of course, I got separated during the jump. I had to use my abilities to track all of you down,"

"Which ones?" questioned Donnie.

"Mostly my nose. I picked it up from a certain tiger and warthog mutant," answered Zack. "Anyway, long story short, I made it to the temple just in time to witness the battle that was happening. I was surprised as you on seeing Canandra again. But not as surprised as seeing Dana getting controlled again,"

"Is that when you did that high-pitched ghost scream?" questioned Dana, curiously.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about that," Zack said, chuckling nervously and rubbing his neck. "It was the only way to keep you still long enough for the Turtles to snap you out of Jei's dark magic. Not to mention distract Canandra from harming you."

"So that last ghostly moan was meant for Canandra, but the frequency was still loud enough for Usagi and Dana to hear it," deduced Donnie.

"Pretty much. After Canandra was defeated, I was going to try to help Leo but was stopped by another force with positive energy. Even heard a voice saying that she will take it from here,"

"Akai Yanagi," the Turtles and Dana said at once.

Zack nodded his head. "From every mission, I've never met a being who could actually see plus sense me until now. Yanagi truly was a wise and kind-hearted bat warrior. Probably the second-best bat warrior I've ever met," he concluded while winking at Dana, which resulted her to blush a little.

"Well, Zack, now that we know you and Luna, how about we show you where your rooms are," offered Leo.

"Works for us,"

* * *

Moments later, Dana and Tommy took the two new mutants to their apartment and welcomed them as part of the family. Drake and Simone were surprised yet happy to see Zack alive and well. Once the two siblings filled their parents in on Zack and Luna's story, they were more than happy of letting them crash in whenever they wish.

Eventually, Zack left the place by taking the fire escape up until he was on the rooftop. He sat down on the edge of the building, staring at the clear, starry night.

"Hey, mom and dad," the Phantom Beast said out loud to the sky. "…And Master Splinter. If you three are watching right now, I want to let you all know that I promise to protect my new family. They finally got to know me and my girl face-to-face. I have a certain young boy to give me a little encouragement. We're already given a new home to stay in. Not only does this city need a guardian, but my new family, friends, and loved ones do, as well, both day and night,"

"I couldn't agree more,"

Slightly startled, Zack turned around and smiled to see his half-sister on the same rooftop as him, smirking. She was scene wearing her Dracana costume along with her mask.

"How long were you standing there?" questioned Zack.

"Long enough," answered Dana, walking towards her half-brother. "I never got the chance to say 'thank you'. You know, for saving my wings on many occasions the Turtles couldn't and all that. So, thanks."

Chuckling, Zack looked at Dana before staring at the sky once more. "You think it's weird that I talk to them? My parents and…you know?"

"Not really. I don't find it weird at all," she looked at Zack, slowly placing her right hand on his left, causing him to switch his gaze on the bat heroine. "It's good to have you back, big bro."

"It's good to _be_ back, little sis," replied Zack. It didn't take him long to wonder about something. "Is there a reason why you're in your Dracana disguise?"

"I was actually hoping to do some patrolling tonight and wanted to ask if you wanted to join me. As friends/half-siblings, I mean,"

"I thought you never asked," grinned Zack, lifting his hood up that shadows his face/himself while standing up, "Let's do this."

And so, the two mutants released their wings and took off to explore the city.

One thing was for sure: life with the Turtles will never be the same, now that they have two new allies on their side. And their adventure had only begun.

 ** _The end_**

* * *

 **All right! Another story/chapter bites the dust!**

 **I would like to thank Hermana Kunoichi and Lewamus Prime** **2017/2018** **on making this story happen. Totally owe you guys.**

 **And, incase you guys where wondering what Leo and Zack said at the end of their match, it was "Great Spar." with Zack answering "I learned it from the best.", in Japanese.**

 **Interesting fact about Zack is that he also knows plus speaks English, Japanese, Russian, Alien languages, Animals, and Italian. Along with doing a Brooklyn accent.**

 **Don't worry, you'll be seeing more action of Zack and Luna on the next chapter. Which will be the Monster Arc series. YAY! I am so looking forward to writing that.**

 **Also, once again, I'm sorry if this story was super late. I just had so much work to accomplish at some of the classes I take. I'm only happy that it's now Winter break and I can try to catch up.**

 **And, yes, I did make** **drawings of Zack and Luna on both their human and mutant forms in Wattpad. As always, you can find them in "My Drawing/Art Gallery" under the name Redbat142. They're based on/used for this story, as well. Look at chapters 40 and 44.**

 **Anyway, hope all of you enjoyed the story. The next couple of chapters are going to be a real scream. And merry late Christmas plus happy new year to everyone!**

 **TMNT Fan Forever!**


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